Why visual stimulation may work against Alzheimer’s
Several years ago, MIT neuroscientists showed that they could dramatically reduce the amyloid plaques seen in mice with Alzheimer’s disease simply by exposing the animals to light flickering at a specific frequency. In a new study, the researchers have found that this treatment has widespread effects at the cellular level, and it helps not just neurons but also immune cells called microglia. Overall, these effects reduce inflammation, enhance synaptic function, and protect against cell death, in mice that are genetically programmed to develop Alzheimer’s disease. “It seems that neurodegeneration is largely prevented,” says Li-Huei Tsai, the director of MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the senior author of the study. The researchers also found that the flickering light boosted cognitive function in the mice, which performed much better on tests of spatial memory than untreated mice did. The treatment also produced beneficial effects on spatial memory in older, healthy mice. Chinnakkaruppan Adaikkan,...