Cognitive Decline- Can It Be Reversed?

COGNITIVE DECLINE AFFECTS MANY PEOPLE AS THEY GET OLDER, BUT NOW, REPORTS LINDA MUSIC, SEVERAL THERAPIES OFFER NEW HOPE FOR ALZHEIMER’S SUFFERERS AND THEIR FAMILIES.

- Linda

If you’ve ever met someone with Alzheimer’s, you’ll know it’s a ruthless disease. It robs victims of their memories and their identity. It brings heartache and suffering not only for the patient, but also for their families, who can only watch helplessly as the person they know and love becomes, as so many have described it, a mere shell of their former selves.

Until now, there have been no drugs or treatments available to reverse the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s. However, some promising new techniques offer hope of just that.

What is Alzheimer’s?

If you could look into the brain of someone with Alzheimer’s, you would see sticky plaques called amyloids in the synapses (spaces) between the neurons (brain cells). Neurons communicate with each other via these synapses, but amyloid proteins can block them so communication cannot occur. With minimal or no communication, the brain cells slowly lose function, which results in memory loss and confusion. Locked in and unable to communicate with other neurons, the cells are then attacked by another protein called ‘tau’, which appears to play a role in brain cell destruction.

Breaking barriers and the promise of ultrasound Research by Professor Jurgen Götz and Dr Rebecca Nisbet at the Queensland Brain Institute has shown that the reversal of Alzheimer’s symptoms and restoration of memory may be possible.

The premise of their research is that if drugs or antibodies could be delivered directly to the amyloid plaques and defective tau proteins, they could be removed and cognitive function restored. However, this is not easy to achieve. The brain is protected by the blood-brain barrier, which does not allow easy access to the brain. This makes the delivery of drugs an ineffective option for treatment.