Deep Brain Stimulation

No Gravatar

Serendipity strikes again?  Maybe- because deep brain stimulation, a technique used to treat chronic pain and Parkinson’s disease, may work to amplify memory – including those suffering from Alzheimer’s.

Drs. Suthana, Haneef, Stern, Mukamel, Behnke, Knowlton and Freed (who is the lead author with a dual appointment at Tel Aviv Medical) at UCLA published “Memory Enhancement and Deep-Brain Stimulation of the Entorhinal Area” in the New England Journal of Medicine.  They describe experiments with seven epileptic patients, suffering from memory lapse.

Electrode stimulation of the brain

Each of the patients had electrodes implanted in their skulls, so that the source of their seizures could be determined, with the hope of alleviating their epileptic seizures.  As was true for the other study, these electrodes were used to study the brain in more detail.  And, regardless of the quality of their memory, when the entorhinal area was stimulated, their memory was improved.  Stimulating regions millimeters away had no such effect.

It turns out that the entorhinal cortex is among the first regions of the brain to be affected by Alzheimers.  This region transmits to the hippocampus, the brain’s learning and memory center.

This deep-brain stimulation technique has never been tried for Alzheimer’s therapy.  Instead, the treatment approach has been to deal with amyloid protein deposits- the plaques in the brain that seem to be the main contributory cause.

Obviously, this work is very preliminary.  After all, only seven patients were studied.  And, this study involved the development of new memories, not the recall of older ones- as would be the case for Alzheimer’s.  But, it may lead to a whole new avenue of treatment.

Share this:
Share this page via Email Share this page via Stumble Upon Share this page via Digg this Share this page via Facebook Share this page via Twitter
Share

13 thoughts on “Deep Brain Stimulation”

  1. This is fascinating research, Roy! Though, in my completely uneducated opinion…I think the key to unlocking alzheimers is to study amloydosis as a whole and that I am fairly sure is a liver problem. What in the liver stops functioning to “digest” these fatty proteins that build up around the organs. Is there a simple enzyme cure we are missing, one that would literally digest and flush out the protein build up? Like I said, it is probably me over simplifying, but it just makes sense to me not to treat the symptoms but try to dig at the core. LOL

    1. Lisa:
      So, first we have to find the enzyme- and then either find a way to turn it back on (or off)- or recreate a new one. That research is ongoing. And, we may never find the right enzyme. (Consider cystic fibrosis, where we are still searching 50 years later.)
      While we are doing that- if we can use deep brain stimulation and keep people from succumbing to the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, I consider that a plu.
      My grandfather had part of his brain frozen more than 5 decades ago in an attempt to stay the progress of Parkinson’s (notice- prior to the findings of L-Dopa)– it worked for five years. Those five years were critical to the bonds he formed with my brother. So…

      1. Like I said, under educated. I do think it is worth looking at don’t get me wrong at all. I am losing some good friends to the disease, so yeah I love this research and the skin cancer drug research in the works that reverses it in mice too. Just a random enzyme though from me 😉 my husband donated DNA to the cause of finding and isolating the gene that causes prostate cancer, so it is neat to hear that your father did that with his brain. I donated my grandmothers body for colon cancer research/medical testing as well…I think steps like these will show results eventually. Probably in the form of “designer drugs” if I don’t miss my guess. Great post and conversation! <3

  2. I wonder. Is the increase in so many of these diseases a product of our current western life style? Does Japan and China suffer with the same problems? We keep researching and one day I am sure we will eliminate much of the illness but probably never the dis ease.
    Roberta recently posted..Keeping Teams Up to Date

  3. Pingback: go learn web.
  4. Pingback: Invert Nis

Comments are closed.