Alzheimer's 'lost' memories may be recoverable: study

Yahoo – AFP, Kyoko Hasegawa, 17 March 2016

New study results offer some of the first evidence that Alzheimer's disease does not

destroy specific memories, but rather makes them inaccessible (AFP Photo/Will Oliver)

Tokyo (AFP) - Sufferers of Alzheimer's disease may not have "lost" their memories, but could simply have difficulty accessing them, say researchers, who Wednesday unveiled a possible treatment that could one day offer a cure to the ravages of dementia.

Nobel Prize-winner Susumu Tonegawa said studies on mice showed that by stimulating specific areas of the brain with blue light, scientists could make the creatures recall thoughts that were otherwise unavailable to them.

The results offer some of the first evidence that Alzheimer's disease does not destroy specific memories, but rather makes them inaccessible.

"As humans and mice tend to have a common principle in terms of memory, our findings suggest that Alzheimer's disease patients, at least in their early stages, may also keep memories in their brains, which means there may be a possibility of a cure," Tonegawa told AFP.

Tonegawa's team used mice that had been genetically modified to exhibit symptoms similar to those of humans suffering from Alzheimer's disease -- a degenerative brain condition that affects millions of adults around the world.

The animals were put in a box which had a low level electrical current passing through the floor -- giving an unpleasant, but not dangerous, shock to their feet.

An unaffected mouse that is returned to the same box 24 hours later freezes in fear, anticipating the same nasty sensation.

Mice with Alzheimer's do not, suggesting they have no recollection of the experience.

But when researchers stimulated targeted areas of the animal's brains -- the "engram cells" associated with memory -- using a blue light, they appeared to recall the shock.

The same result was noted even when placing the creatures in a different box during stimulation, suggesting the memory had been retained and was being reactivated.

Synaptic connections

By examining the physical structure of the mice's brains, researchers noted that those affected with Alzheimer's-like conditions had fewer "spines" -- conduits through which synaptic connections are formed.

New study results offer some of the first evidence that Alzheimer's disease does not

destroy specific memories, but rather makes them inaccessible (AFP Photo/John Saeki)

Via repeated light stimulation they were able to increase the number of spines to levels indistinguishable from those in normal mice, resulting in their exhibiting the freezing behaviour seen in the original box.

"The mice's memories were retrieved through a natural cue," Tonegawa said, referring to the box that initially triggered the freezing behaviour.

"This means that symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in mice were cured, at least in their early stages."

The research, carried out by the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics, is among the first to prove that recall -- rather than memory -- is the problem, Japan-based RIKEN said.

"It's good news for Alzheimer's disease patients," centre director Tonegawa, who won the 1987 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine, told AFP by telephone from his office in Massachusetts.

The optical stimulation of brain cells -- a technique called "optogenetics" -- involves inserting a special gene into neurons to make them sensitive to blue light, and then stimulating specific parts of the brain.

Optogenetics has previously been used in psychotherapeutic treatments for mental illnesses such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Tonegawa said the research on mice offered hope for a future treatment for Alzheimer's disease, a condition that accounts for about 70 percent of the 47.5 million people around the world suffering from dementia, figures that are expected to increase as developed countries such as Japan grow older.

But he cautioned more work was yet to be done.

"Early-stage Alzheimer's may be cured in the future should a new technology that meets ethical and safety conditions for treating humans be developed," he said.

The research is published in the Britain-based science journal Nature.

#NEWSGRAPHIC Alzheimer's 'lost' memories may be recoverable: studyhttps://t.co/BgckHEj3ui pic.twitter.com/u0Cnzqu8D3

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 17, 2016

Related Articles:

Russian scientists find new way to repair DNA that may cure Alzheimer’s

Immune system link to Alzheimer's disease: US study
Alzheimer's study reveals new genes implicated in disease

"The Biggest Filter" - July 18-19, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“..  The Biggest Filter that Hinders Truth is Your Biased Knowledge

The biggest filter of humanity, the one that keeps Humans from actual truth, believe it or not, is called knowledge. We speak of that which humanity perceives currently as knowledge. That which you do not know is, therefore, future knowledge. Now, every single scientist understands the difference - every single one - for they know what is coming is going to teach them what they don't know yet. This is part of the scientific process. Even so, they take what they know, or think they know, and completely let it temper the experiments for what they don't know. They base the future on what they know or believe, even though they know better!

A medical doctor will look in the past and he'll remember being taught about a time when humans would report to the barbershop for healing. That's when they would actually bleed people for healing. By the way, that's the reason for the barber pole having the red stripe on it - it's the tradition of barbers doing the bleeding. So back then, you went to get healed in the barbershop by being bled! This, of course, led to many deaths because there was no understanding of germs, sterilization or today's common sense. Doctors know this, and they laugh at how far you all have come from this. So doctors absolutely know that what is coming will someday be actually laughable, yet they are also absolutely and completely closed to what it might be. They just think it will be an advancement of what they currently know.  ….”

“..  Medicine - Where It's Going

I want to show you some other areas to consider. There are several categories that we'd like to talk about, but they're not in a specific order except for the last one. So let's talk about medicine. What is future medicine going to look like?

The most elegant predictions of medicine fall short of what's really coming. What you have today is a high-tech approach to designer chemistry. Now, since the body is made up of chemistry, it makes sense to look at this chemistry and work with it. It makes total sense to discover how it reacts to disease and then design cures with more chemistry. It's absolutely normal what you have done, but it's going to reach an end very soon. Because the future of medicine is physics, dear ones, not chemistry.

You're going to start understanding and developing new medical physics. You will discover that medi-physics is going to literally speak to cellular structure and give it instructions, without one chemical involved. There's always a reaction to chemistry, isn't there? There's always a side effect. When you push one thing, something else reacts, doesn't it? How do you like it so far? Your most elegant chemical designs, the ones that are helping with the worst diseases on the planet, all have side effects - and some of those side effects are death! I say to you, how do you like it so far?

Does it really seem elegant to you? Or perhaps it's just a more sophisticated way of bleeding in the barbershop? Dear ones, that's how you're going to look at it someday! You're going to slap your heads and say, "Remember the day when we did everything with chemistry and drugs?"

Right now, these kinds of changes have already started in several areas. There are discoveries being made that are healing some of the most heart-breaking diseases you have. I reveal one, because it's not a secret. I will always give you information that is either being worked on or has been postulated through free choice on this planet. That is the guideline of channelling. We can't give it to you. You've got to develop it yourself. However, we can put you in an energy that has a faster discovery potential - that is to say, discoveries become more obvious.

Alzheimer's is heart breaking. There are millions on this planet who develop this condition, more all the time. You're living longer and a plaque-like material that literally obfuscates your memory within the brain is becoming more common. It clings to certain parts of your brain, encrusting and restricting it, imprisoning the Human's ability to remember and eventually process information at all. The result is death, slow death. It's caused by your environment, a fact which will be discovered eventually. Your long-lived Ancients didn't have it.

It's going to be cured with physics. Your science is starting to find out that the plaque-like substance has a resonance that allows it to be weakened with sound. High-frequency sound, tuned to a certain frequency and amplitude, will cause the sheaths to weaken, dissolve, and come off. There's a lot of research to do yet, but it's a Eureka! moment - realizing that physics alone, without chemistry, can change the structure of biology. This is with no side effects whatsoever. It's coming, it's coming.

There are those working with fresh umbilical cord stem cells right now who are using pure physics to guide the stem cells to a specific destination in the body in order to repair failing systems. Dear ones, the future of health and healing is not through better chemistry, yet medicine is still waiting for better pills! Did you connect the dots and realize that all biology is physics based? There is magnetics, leverage, the energy of consciousness, electricity and much more within cellular structure. With physics alone, you can "tune in" to disease and destroy it! You can fine-tune your system with cooperative resonances and extend life with benevolent, physical assistance. Sixteen years ago, I told you this when I spoke of the Temple of Rejuvenation. I described the super-cooling needed to do it and the temperatures needed to work with it (-55C). This is physics!

Now, the false expectation of greater chemistry for the future is totally caused from the filter of knowledge. What you have and know then gives you your expectation of what is going to take place. It literally blocks you from seeing some of the potentials that you may have.  ….”


Kryon Q&A

Question (2004): Dearest Kryon: I've read the question and answer on people with diseases of the mind - for example, Alzheimers and dementia. But I have more questions. You say that people have chosen this path and that the lessons are for us. As I work with these people, I'm wondering if there is any stage where there could be a reversal of the condition, and if so, with what methods? The people in the hostel are so drugged up, and there's a mind-set with the authorities that no "alternate" therapies work - although they're using colored lights. (Sadly, the diversional therapist told me she doesn't know what color therapy is.)

From a spiritual point of view, what is the best way to work with these people - talk to them as though they were normal, or go along with their imaginings? I've been told that they need to be kept quiet, especially toward evening. However, I've found that with one woman who mostly paces saying very little, the more childlike I am (dancing and singing makes her happy), the more she talks. I could go on and on - could you please enlighten me further?

Answer: I will answer the second part first. Love those who are in this condition. Find out what makes them smile... and then make them smile. The best you can do in a facilitation of this condition is to somehow create joy. Even in their confusion they can laugh at situations and be creative. They'll also remember you better as the one who creates this emotion. Each is very different, but in general, try to find their "happy" button and push it as often as you can. They will remember that.

Right now you're perched upon some important discoveries that will be able to reverse these conditions to a large degree. But just as the paraplegic who regains their nerve connections must than relearn how to walk, suffering much pain, there will be this attribute with a regeneration of the mind. Even if new cells are created, they won't necessarily have the old memories, but they can be trained to be healthy and be ready for new memories.

So someday these will have the ability to halt the progress of the degeneration of cells that are being taken, and instead grow new pathways around them. Some will be able to "reconnect" to certain kinds of memories (like recognition) but will have to relearn what the association of recognition actually means. So history and events might have to be studied and relearned... sometimes even things like reading, also. The pain will be that the individual will regain mental health and will realize exactly what has happened.

Your stem-cell research is very important, and you're reaching a point where you'll be able to use birth cells that aren't embryonic, but every bit as potent for research... thereby sidestepping all moral issues. Look for this in the next few years.