New Study Says Infrared Lasers Destroy Harmful Plaques in Alzheimer’s Brains

[Michie]

A notable characteristic of several well-known neurodegenerative diseases—such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s—is the formation of harmful plaques that contain aggregates of amyloid proteins, also known as fibrils. Unfortunately, even after decades of research, getting rid of these plaques has remained a herculean challenge, so treatments for these patients have not been very effective.

Now, scientists are revealing the results from experiments that show how resonance with an infrared laser, when it is tuned to a specific frequency, actually causes amyloid fibrils to disintegrate from the inside out.

Their findings open doors to new therapeutic possibilities for amyloid plaque-related brain diseases that have thus far been incurable.


In recent years, instead of going down the chemical route using drugs, some scientists have turned to alternative approaches, such as ultrasound, to destroy amyloid fibrils and halt the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

Continued below.
New Study Says Infrared Lasers Destroy Harmful Plaques in Alzheimer's Brains

 

[hedrick]

Neat. Of course this is very far from an actual treatment, but maybe one can be developed.

 

[pgp_protector]

Though It might slow or stop damage, I doubt it will reverse the existing brain loss

I friggen HATE this disese.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

This assumes that amyloid plaques are the cause rather than a symptom - last I heard, this was still uncertain. ISTR studies done showing that removing amyloid plaques didn't significantly improve matters - but that may have been in rodent models - admittedly, I'm not particularly up to date on this.