University of Queensland's Ultrasound reversal of Alzheimer's - Neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques Removal with MicroBubbles

 “With an ageing population placing an increasing burden on the health system, an important factor is cost, and other potential drug treatments using antibodies will be expensive. In contrast, this method uses relatively inexpensive ultrasound and microbubble technology which is non-invasive and appears highly effective. The approach is able to temporarily open the blood-brain barrier, activating mechanisms that clear toxic protein clumps and restoring memory functions. With our approach the blood-brain barrier's opening is only temporary for a few hours, so it quickly restores its protective role”

CJCADR Director Professor Jürgen Götz commenting on the discovery of the use of Ultrasound to treat Alzheimer's Disease

I knew that Ultrasound can be used to scan the human body and even transmit power across a room to charge a Laptop as explained in my blog article entitled “Meredith Perry's Ubeam Ultrasonic Power Transfer and the Venture Capitalists - Ubeam's Wireless Charging Future is a Good Vibration with a Magnetic Personality”.

But I had no idea that microbubbles and Ultrasound could possibly be used to restore memory in humans as explained in the article “Non-invasive ultrasound restores memory in Alzheimer's mice”, published March 11, 2015 by Michelle Starr, CNET News.

This incredible breakthrough was made by a team of researchers at the University of Queensland's CJCADR (Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research) Brain Institute comprising of lead author Dr. Gerhard Leinenga and CJCADR Director Professor Jürgen Götz as stated in the article “Ultrasound Used to Attack Alzheimer's-Linked Brain Plaque in Mice”, published Wednesday, March 11, 2015, U.S. National Library of Medicine.

And as expected, the team is excited by the implications of their research to quote CJCADR Director Professor Jürgen Götz in a Press Release: “We're extremely excited by this innovation of treating Alzheimer's without using drug therapeutics. The word 'breakthrough' is often mis-used, but in this case I think this really does fundamentally change our understanding of how to treat this disease, and I foresee a great future for this approach”.

Their research, which was published in online Journal Science Translational Medicine in study entitled Scanning ultrasound removes amyloid-β and restores memory in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model, points to an alternative method to drugs that can break down the neurotoxic amyloid plaques that cause memory loss and loss of cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease patients.

So what exactly is Alzheimer's disease? And how does Ultrasound work to restore memory and cognitive function?

Alzheimer’s disease - Neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques and the link to excess Sugar in the Diet

Alzheimer's disease is a form of dementia where the patient experiences symptom ranging from severe memory loss to loss of cognitive functions.

Researchers still haven't figured out yet what causes Alzheimer's disease. But what is now known is that the disease manifests as a buildup of neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques and neurofibrillary tangles as explained in the article “New Alzheimer’s treatment fully restores memory function”, published 18 MAR 2015 by BEC CREW, Science Alert in the brain.

Some researchers have linked buildup of neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques in the brain to the increasing levels of consumption of sugar in the human diet, as shown in the video below.

The theory is that somehow, whatever causes Alzheimer's disease causes the body to produce and create a buildup of these neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques in the brain, blocking the neurons from communicating efficiently with each other. The result is an inability for human to access the part of their brain where memory and cognitive functions occur, resulting in the patient manifesting symptoms typical of Alzheimer's disease.

So how does ultrasound remove plaque? By giving some microbubbles some positive Vibrations!

How Ultrasound removes neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques - Positive Vibration with a Magnetic Connection

The idea behind using ultrasound is very similar to Dr. Peter Thiel's MagForce’s NanoTherm  magnetic fields and Nanoparticles of Iron Oxide to kill tumours as reported in my blog article entitled “MagForce’s NanoTherm Cancer Cure – How Iron Oxide in your Energy Drink can Kill Cervical and Prostate Cancer via Magnetic Induction”.

However, instead of heating up nanoparticles of a metal injected into the tumour to burn it up, the idea is that high frequency ultrasound can vibrate microbubbles of air injected into the brain close to the blood-brain barrier, which protect the brain from bacterial infection and germs.

Dr. Gerhard Leinenga theory as to why ultrasound works as explained more thoroughly in the article “Ultrasound therapies target brain cancers and Alzheimer’s disease”, published 11 March 2015 by Emily Underwood, Science Magazine  is a lot like bursting soap bubbles as , quote: “In our treatment, ultrasound acts on the microbubbles, causing them to expand and contract in the blood vessels of the brain”.

This temporarily opens up the gateway into the brain via the blood-brain barrier, the brain’s protective shield from germs. Bacteria and other germs then enter the brain to attack. But this also awakens the microglial cells in the brain that naturally feed on and remove neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques. Awakened from their slumber, they then attack the bacteria and other germs as the main course and then add a serving of neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques for dessert.

Ultrasound Microbubbles fly the Blood-Brain Barrier Gate - Reverses Alzheimer's disease in Mice model

Like the research done on the effect of a Sugar diet on Mice and a possible link to Alzheimer's Disease, the team of researchers at the University of Queensland's CJCADR got three (3) sets of lab rats, with one used as the Test Group, one as the Control Group of Mice and a third as the Normal Group of Mice.

They then deposited neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques into the brains of the mice, one set for Test and one for Control, while leaving a third Normal group of Mice free of the neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques. Then the Test mice were treated with repeated scanning ultrasounds, the same as used in medical Ultrasound scanning equipment, but in a zigzag pattern across each animal's entire skull.

This differs from the procedure established by earlier in December 2014 by biophysicist Kullervo Hynynen of the Sunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto and neuroscientist Isabelle Aubert, his partner in crime as explained in the article “Ultrasound therapies target brain cancers and Alzheimer’s disease”, published 11 March 2015 by Emily Underwood, Science Magazine.

The high frequency pulsations apparently either dislodge the deposits of neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques or it activates the microglial cells in the brain that naturally feed on and remove neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques.

What happened next astonished the Researchers.

Ultrasound and Microbubbles - Potential Treatment for Brain Cancers

The Researcher then examined the brains of these Test Mice using spinning disc confocal microscopy and 3D reconstruction. To their surprise, the activated microglial cells had removed most of deposited neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques in 75% of the mice.

Subsequent testing done with the Test Mice showed that they displayed improved cognition and memory on the same level as the Normal Mice free of the neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques. They also showed better cognition and memory than the Control Mice that had the deposited neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques in three (3) memory test:

1.      The Y-maze test

2.      The novel object recognition test

3.      The active place avoidance test

Good to note that this is research done on Mice; humans may react differently to ultrasound, as we have a thicker skull that blocks conventional ultrasound. But the team of researchers at the University of Queensland’s Queensland Brain Institute CJCADR believes that if applied early, this ultrasound therapy can be more effective than Alzheimer's drugs, which don't remove the Amyloid-β and are prohibitively expensive.

Even better, this technique can utilize existing ultrasound technology to make it possible to target the brain directly with drugs. This by the ultrasound activated microbubbles opening up the blood-brain barrier to allow drug cocktails into the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients. 

Already a neurosurgeon at the University of Toronto in Canada, Dr. Todd Mainprize, has started clinical trials for drugs that can treat brain gliomas (brain cancer) by using ultrasound and microbubbles to open up the blood brain barrier and let these experimental drugs into the brain as mentioned in the article  “Ultrasound therapies target brain cancers and Alzheimer’s disease”, published 11 March 2015 by Emily Underwood, Science Magazine.

However, a procedure has to be established in how to use the Ultrasound to remove the neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques into the brains of humans. Also, a special probe may have to be developed as well as an ultrasound machine that can produce ultrasound at much higher volumes so as to penetrate the thicker human skull.

Blood Transfusions to remove Residual neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques in the brain – Oil Change Required

I'd also personally recommend that blood transfusions be done on humans to remove the neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques buildup in the brain.

The ultrasound may have dislodged the proteins, but an infusion of younger blood might also boost cognition in the patient based on the research from Standard University published back in May 2014 as explained in my blog article entitled “Stanford School of Medicine discovers Younger Mice's Blood makes Older Mice Brain Cells Grow Back - Hunger Games to Harvest the Blood of the Young”. 

This blood can be obtained from donors or produced via cloning Red Blood Cells in a procedure developed by the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service published back in March 2014 as explained in my blog article entitled “Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service develops artificial Type O Negative Blood - Stem Cell Cloning of Type O Negative Blood for Cheaper Transfusions in 2016”.

By doing a transfusion, it would help to remove the patient's blood and any residual neurotoxic amyloid-β plaques in the brain, ensuring full recovery and long-term improvement in the patient's health.

Scanning ultrasound removes amyloid-β and restores memory in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model