Tackling Dementia Using Ultrasound

Scientists in Japan have demonstrated that ultrasound may be useful to stimulate blood vessel and nerve cell formation in the brains of mice. 

Dementia affects about 50 million people worldwide, with 10 million new cases occurring every year. There are currently no curative treatments available for vascular dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, the most common causes of dementia.

In this study, a team of scientists led by cardiologist Dr. Hiroaki Shimokawa at Tohoku University, Japan, sought a way to treat dementia without using drugs. Shimokawa and his team had conducted previous studies showing that low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) improved blood vessel formation in pigs with myocardial ischemia, a condition where there is reduced blood flow to the heart. 

Other studies have reported that LIPUS increases the production of proteins involved in nerve cell survival and growth, in addition to promoting nerve regeneration. Focusing LIPUS treatment on a region in the brain called the hippocampus, which is involved in memory, has also been found to improve dementia in mice.

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