A new nanotechnology treatment reversed Alzheimer’s symptoms in mice by restoring the brain’s natural cleanup system. The specially engineered nanoparticles helped clear toxic amyloid proteins from the brain and repair the blood-brain barrier, which normally protects and regulates the brain’s environment. In one striking experiment, elderly mice treated with the therapy later behaved like healthy younger mice.
It is a destructive disease so true reversal is not possible, brain capacity might be restored but memories and prior connectivity generally once lost is gone forever.
If catched early enough, that could save some memories before they’re destroyed
And as the long term effects, at least in mice, look promising, I’m kinda hopeful
Was absolutely awful watching my grandmother decline - and because of that, my mother is horrifically afraid of getting dementia
I hope this can translate from mice to humans fast and we can get something similar.
Restoring destroyed neurons will probably never be possible…
But at least we can stop the decline and new memories can be stored again, and with that a kinda normal life
Sorry to hear about your grandmother, but all NIH research on this was halted in 2025 and that was 80% of worldwide efforts.
Governments do not care, anywhere.
Ah, well … Shit
I thought it was mostly a jamming type effect. The memories are often still here, but become progressively less accessible. They then degrade from lack of use.
It might well be that a lot of memories still exist for longer than it seems. Even if not, stopping the degradation, and allowing new memories to form would allow people to remain cognitive and functional for a LOT longer.
For all forms of neurodegeneration, once the cascade starts, it cannot be stopped.
In 2008, a proper controlled imaging study proved that whether there are amyloid plaques in brain or not does not correlate with dementia. 18 years later, people are still spinning in circles with these terrible mouse models.