Phototherapy for Alzheimer’s may help remove toxic proteins from sleeping brain.
With the increase in the aging population, the global number of people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) progressively increased worldwide. The situation is aggravated by the fact that there is no the effective pharmacological therapy of AD.
A new study has found that light therapy applied to mice during deep sleep increased the brain’s ability to clear away beta-amyloid, a toxic protein linked to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
Photobiomodulation (PBM), a nonpharmacological approach, has demonstrated promising initial results in both human and animal studies acting like a ‘washing machine’ for the brain to enhance the removal of harmful beta-amyloid proteins.
PBM is based on the use of red or near-infrared light. The FDA recognized PBM as safe because PBM is a non-invasive method without any side-effects. There is evidence that the increase in metabolism and microcirculation of brain tissues as well as reduction of oxidative stress and inflammation are the mechanisms of therapeutic effects of PBM.
The House-Keeping Function of The Sleeping Brain
The house-keeping function of the brain has been considered to be reserved largely for the state of sleep. The brain cannot readily fulfill this house-keeping during wakefulness, while it is undertaking so many complex higher-order executive functions involving billions of precise synaptic connections.
The brain lymphatic drainage is increased during deep sleep while wakefulness is accompanied suppression of removal of this toxin.