Dr. Alois Alzheimer first described
Alzheimer’s disease as a peculiar disease related to memory loss and shrinkage
of nerves cells in 1906. Alzheimer’s disease has been recognized for over a
century. Yet, cure for this neurodegenerative disease is still waiting for
being developed. Since the brain is a very complicated organ, scientists could
not study this disease profoundly until the electronic microscope became a
common research apparatus after World War II.
Due to the increasing number of
Alzheimer’s disease patients were diagnosed, the awareness of Alzheimer’s
disease has also been increasing in the United States. Studies and research
about Alzheimer’s disease had been going on since then. In 1980s, discoveries
of two important proteins were identified as key components of Alzheimer’s
disease. Beta-amyloid protein is believed to be the main protein causes plaque
formation in Alzheimer’s brains and triggers damage to neurons. And tau protein
causes formation of tangles, which degenerates normal neurons into copies of
them. However, the first pharmaceutical treatment was not developed until 1993
and it only slows down disease’s symptoms. Fortunately, in 1996, scientists
successfully advanced an Alzheimer vaccine in mice. When injecting transgenic
mice with beta-amyloid protein, mice show that the vaccine prevents the mice
from plague formation.
According to ScienceDaily, researchers at Lancaster University had invented a new imaging tool—Ultrasonic Force Microscopy (UFM), which uses a vibrating scanner to show a better quality and high contrast nanometer scale resolution image. This apparatus is better than electronic microscopy, which can only gives the resolution but not the contrast, and optical microscopy, which does not provide enough resolution. With the use of UFM, scientists now can review the causes of Alzheimer’s disease with contrast on a nanometer scale. Hoping in a few years, scientists can develop the Alzheimer’s vaccine for human use with the help of UFM.
Posted by Yim Hui
Interesting blog! I believe that Alzheimer's is a very hard disease to control and diagnose it would be fantastic to be able and find a cure for it. Do you think the cure could be in the form of a vaccine or more of correcting our bodies to stop creating the link to the disease and memory loss?
ReplyDeleteThank you Alex. There is a human vaccine for Alzheimer's today, and it is mainly for stimulating patients' own brain defense mechanism. With the help of newly invented Ultrasonic Force Microscopy, we are hoping scientists can modify the vaccine according to observed high resolution images of the neuron cells. So for now, the future cure for Alzheimer's disease will more likely to be in a form of modified vaccine.
ReplyDelete-Yim Hui
It seems like this new machine is mostly for research use in coordination with the vaccine. Is is possible that the UMF could be used an Alzheimer's preventative measure to scan patients who are at risk and determine if there are any tau protein aggregations?
ReplyDelete-NB
UMF now could give researchers clearer images of early stages of Alzheimer's. It is still not yet ready to be a preventative measure. However, with better resolution of images, researchers can possibly find out early signs of beta-amyloid or tau proteins.
Deletethis was very interesting blog to read, it seems as if this new Ultrasonic Force Microscopy imaging tool could lead to advancements in the near future. Do you know if it being used in a lot of research facilities or doctor offices yet or is it still in it's early stages?
ReplyDeleteposted by kristen whitehead
For Alzheimer's disease or other dementia disorders, UFM is still in early stages for brain cells imaging. But UFM can definitely speed up the process of advancements.
DeletePost by Yim Hui