What if fighting the onset of dementia was as simple as a few sniffs?
Researchers at Texas A&M have discovered a new therapy that could delay the progression of Alzheimer’s disease by years. And there’s no complicated treatment, it can all be delivered by a nasal spray.
In a new study from Texas A & M University College of Medicine, researchers have used a nasal spray to target microglia and astrocytes – cells that cause neuroinflammation (brain inflammation) – delaying the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in a mouse model.
They suggest that, if similar effects are confirmed in people, the spray could delay Alzheimer’s progression by up to 15 years.
Overactive immune cells
The spay targets overactive immune cells in the brain.
Microglia and astrocytes play a key role in neuroinflammation – or inflammation in the brain – in Alzheimer’s disease. In healthy brains, they protect nerve cells and remove damaged nerve tissue, but in Alzheimer’s after initially clearing ‘plagues’ on nerve cells, they become overactive and start to destroy them.
The researchers administered a nasal spray to mice containing an anti-inflammatory treatment derived from stem cells.
The aim was to target these immune cells to decrease inflammation and reduce the buildup of harmful proteins in the brain.
They gave the three-month-old mice – both mice genetically modified to display Alzheimer’s-like symptoms (transgenic mice) and wild-type mice – two doses of the nasal spray containing the treatment, or a placebo spray, one week apart.
Seventy-two hours after the second dose, they euthanised five mice, to assess the numbers and activity of microglia and astrocytes.
Three weeks after the second treatment, they subjected the rest of the mice to behavioural tests. The researchers repeated these tests regularly over the next month to monitor the mice’s cognitive function following treatment. They then euthanised the mice and analysed their brains.
Mouse model
In this mouse model, untreated mice usually show characteristic signs of Alzheimer’s such as beta-amyloid plaques, increased microglial activity, and inflammation by the age of 4.5 months.
However, at 4.5 months old, the mice that received the nasal spray treatment in this study had reduced microglial clusters, as well as reduced activation of genes associated with neuroinflammation. In addition, they had fewer beta-amyloid plaques than the untreated mice.
These reduced inflammatory effects were most notable in the hippocampus – the area of the brain that plays a leading role in learning and memory – which is severely affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
In behavioural tests, both male and female treated mice showed better cognitive and mood function than the untreated mice.
While the early results are promising, they are a long way off from human treatments.
However, Clifford Segil, a neurologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, who was not involved in this research, told MedicalNewsToday (MNT) that this was early days for plaque-removing treatments.
“The authors in the study noted nasally delivered stem cells could decrease the number of plaques in Alzheimer’s dementia patients and there are medications being used around the world right now doing the same thing. Post-marketing surveillance is going to determine if these plaque reducing medicines cause any noticeable cognitive improvements,” he said.
Novel and early methods
“If the clinical use results in patients with improved memory, unlike the trials which resulted in these medications’ approval, novel and early methods to decrease brain plaques will be extremely desirable,” Dr Segil added.
It’s estimated that 480,000 Australians are living with dementia and Alzheimer’s, with 89,000 receiving a diagnosis last year alone. It is estimated that more than one million Australians will have Alzheimer’s by 2058 without a significant medical breakthrough.
Do you think enough is being done to treat dementia? Why not share your thoughts in the comments section below?
Also read: What are the different types of dementia?
