Mouse Experiment Offers Alzheimer's Hope

Brain cells in mice recovered rapidly after brain plaques characteristic of Alzheimer's disease were removed, offering hope that plaque-clearing treatments could benefit patients with the disease, Washington University researchers said.

No one knows for sure if the sticky plaque - amyloid beta peptide - is the true cause of Alzheimer's, a brain degeneration disease that eventually robs victims of memory and the ability to communicate and care for themselves. About 4.5 million Americans have the disease.

Researchers at Washington University injected mice with an antibody that cleared plaque in parts of the brain. Where the plaque was cleared, swelling on nerve cell branches disappeared quickly, the researchers said. They cautioned that while encouraging, more studies are needed to determine if similar effects might occur in people.

Removing the plaque "often led to rapid recovery of normal structure over a few days," said Dave Holtzman, senior author of the study and head of the Department of Neurology at Washington University.

He said that confirmed benefits of plaque-clearing treatments and "also gets us rethinking our theories on how plaques cause nerve cell damage."

Holtzman was among scientists who previously regarded plaque damage to nerve cells as something that happened once and was irreversible. Instead, the results suggest that plaques might not just cause damage but actively maintain it, he said.

•	Study suggests Alzheimer's may be reversible Toronto Star (Canada), Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005 Byline: Associated Press writers

•	Researchers work to reverse Alzheimer's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 Byline: Tina Hesman, of the Post-Dispatch

•	Mouse Experiment Offers Alzheimer's Hope Associated Press Online, Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 Byline: Jim Salter, AP writer

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