With 55 million people suffering from Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia worldwide, it is understandable why the race for scientists to find a cure for this condition is so tight, especially since the number of sufferers will increase in the next years. One such study recently explored whether stem cells would be helpful in this condition.
Already used to treat various types of cancer and blood-related disorders, they could represent a solution in this case as well, say scientists from the University of California, San Diego, USA, according to Medical News Today.
So far, the research has only been done on rodents, but the results are promising when it comes to improving Alzheimer’s symptoms in mice with the disease.
By systemically transplanting healthy hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells into Alzheimer’s mice, the researchers saw improvements.
The results of the study indicated that memory loss and cognitive decline were effectively halted in mice that received stem cell transplants.
These mice showed better object recognition, risk perception and locomotor activity compared to untreated Alzheimer’s mice.
When examining the brains of the mice, the researchers observed a significant reduction in β-amyloid plaques in the hippocampus and cortex of mice treated with healthy stem cells. Transplantation also resulted in decreased neuroinflammation while maintaining the integrity of the blood-brain barrier.
“We are excited to see such promising preclinical results of hematopoietic stem cell therapy and look forward to developing a new therapeutic approach for this devastating disease,” said Dr. Stephanie Cherqui, professor at the UC San Diego School of Medicine.
2023-08-20 21:04:00
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