Alzheimer's Damage may be Reversible
[Source: mercola.com blog
http://mercola.com/blog]
Tests on mice
suggest the brain damage caused by Alzheimer's disease may be at least partly
reversible. In the study, genetically altered mice regained the ability to
navigate mazes after the genes that caused their dementia were de-activated.
This suggests that the brain damage
caused by Alzheimer's is not
permanent.
The
mice were genetically engineered to develop the mutant tau protein, an
unhealhty form of a brain compound linked to Azheimer's, and put in a swimming
maze test, in which they had to swim and find an underwater platform to stand
on--a similar task to looking for your parked car in a parking lot.
After the mutant gene was deactivated,
memory loss in the mice not only stopped--it got
better.
Alzheimer's affects an estimated 4.5
million people in the United States alone and millions more globally. As the
population gets steadily older, experts estimate this number will balloon to as
many as 16 million by 2015 in the United States.
Posted: Sun - July 17, 2005 at 10:35 AM