Light Therapy Shows Promise in Breaking Down Plaque Linked to Alzheimer's

Researchers from the University of Tokyo published a study in Brain showing a single molecule's promise of disrupting Alzheimer's disease by breaking down plaque, reports the Courthouse News Service . The method relies on the cause and effect mechanism between light and oxygen, using a light-sensitive molecule called a photo-oxygenation catalyst. The team injected the catalyst into live mice with Alzheimer's disease, and activated it with near-infrared light. By exposing mice brains to this molecule for 30 minutes each day for a week, the scientists observed significant reductions in amyloid proteins, and successfully disrupted the amyloid structures by changing the chemical bonds that gives them cohesion. After destabilizing the plaque, the body's immune system purged the damaged cells. The brain's immune system enveloped the oxygenated amyloids and disintegrated them in acidic compartments. The researchers also applied the catalyst to human brain samples donated by Alzheimer's disease patients. The therapy could theoretically be used to remove amyloid proteins throughout the body no matter when the proteins formed.