Could Brain Diseases Like Alzheimer's Be Treated With Flashing Lights? (quantamagazine.org) 42
Writing for Quanta magazine, an adjunct professor of neuroscience at the University of Maryland described an intriguing study led by MIT neuroscientist Li-Huei Tsai:
Incredible as it may sound, the researchers improved the brains of animals with Alzheimer's simply by using LED lights that flashed 40 times a second. Even sound played at this charmed frequency, 40 hertz, had a similar effect.... Exposing the mice to both stimuli, a light show synchronized with pulsating sound, had an even more powerful effect, reducing amyloid plaques [a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease] in regions throughout the cerebral cortex, including the prefrontal region, which carries out higher-level executive functions that are impaired in Alzheimer's.
I was amazed, so just to make sure I wasn't getting unduly excited about the possibility of using flashing lights and sounds to treat humans, I talked to Hiroaki Wake, a neuroscientist at Kobe University in Japan who was not involved with the work. "It would be fantastic!" he said. "The treatment may also be effective for a number of neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson's disease and ALS," where microglia also play a role... Tsai's team has just begun assessing their strobe-light method on patients, and they're sure to be joined by others as more researchers learn of this promising work.
According to the article, another study at the Georgia Institute of Technology is investigating a specific mechanism with which doctors "could potentially treat different diseases just by varying the light and sound rhythms they use.
"The different stimuli would rock the neurons into producing appropriate brain wave frequencies, causing nearby microglia to release specific types of cytokines, which tell microglia in general how to go to work repairing the brain."
I was amazed, so just to make sure I wasn't getting unduly excited about the possibility of using flashing lights and sounds to treat humans, I talked to Hiroaki Wake, a neuroscientist at Kobe University in Japan who was not involved with the work. "It would be fantastic!" he said. "The treatment may also be effective for a number of neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson's disease and ALS," where microglia also play a role... Tsai's team has just begun assessing their strobe-light method on patients, and they're sure to be joined by others as more researchers learn of this promising work.
According to the article, another study at the Georgia Institute of Technology is investigating a specific mechanism with which doctors "could potentially treat different diseases just by varying the light and sound rhythms they use.
"The different stimuli would rock the neurons into producing appropriate brain wave frequencies, causing nearby microglia to release specific types of cytokines, which tell microglia in general how to go to work repairing the brain."
Obviously not (Score:1)
Even Betteridge knew that in his day.
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Gotta add a little bleach
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When did that model come out?
Don't you wish you could add one little letter to your nick, just until November?
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This was actually reported on Slashdot all the way back in 2016 [slashdot.org] and I even made mention of it here [slashdot.org] just a few months ago. As I noted in that thread of posts, however, their ability to take these sorts of lessons from mice and apply them to humans is INCREDIBLY limited when it comes to this field, as in, several orders of magnitude less likely to work than in other areas of medicine.
So while I'd love to see this treatment work, I'm not holding my breath.
Or they could examine brain chemistry (Score:2)
To isolate whatever is being produced in response to the stimuli, patent it, and sell it for $5000 a month.
No pharmaceutical company is going to sell flashing lights and sounds and make a profit.
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Depends on whether they can patent a strobe light and tone generator. Hey, they could do it *on a computer!*
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Hey, they could do it on the internet!
FTFY.
Re:Or they could examine brain chemistry (Score:5, Insightful)
The suspected mechanism is that it helps strengthen gamma waves in the brain, by providing a constant 40 hz input through the eyes and ears, which produces 40hz waves of activation in the cerebral cortex. In EXTREMELY broad strokes, basically like a pacemaker for brain waves. So not really a chemical thing.
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Just have Sandoz open a branch for EDM, hire David Guetta as your R&D head and go for it!
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lol, I just sent the article to a dj friend and told her to save the world from Alzheimers with an app
might... just... happen
Or they could examine catagories. (Score:2)
Pharm? No. Company I use to work for did sell flashing LED googles, so there's potentially a profit. What most likely will raise costs is the reclassification to "medical device" instead of "for entertainment".
Hey, let's see how it works (Score:3)
... with epilepsy.
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Let me put my tinfoil hat on. It has LEDs.
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... with epilepsy.
Traditional Film is at 24 Hz. PAL television is at 50Hz. I don't see why there would be a spike in epilepsy issues at 50Hz. Generally, photosensitive epilepsy is triggered between 5 and 30 Hz. [epilepsy.com] Apparently, the most sensitive frequency is 12Hz. [wikipedia.org]
The different stimuli would rock the neurons (Score:2)
into producing appropriate brain wave frequencies."
I experienced that at a Laser 'Floyd show when I was in High School. Afterwards I was known to say "Duuuude."
well yes and no (Score:2)
long answer: no
short answer: yes
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It was an intentional brainfart though :)
Self Treatment (Score:3)
It would certainly go a long way towards explaining all of the old people sitting in front of slot machines in casinos all day.
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LED lights are already flashing at 50/60 Hz (Score:1)
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They are usually flashing at 100/120Hz - double the mains frequency.
The better LED's not flash at all or to a lesser degree. Even the ones with the cheapest circuitry will usually bother a full rectifier and not rely on a single diode, not in the last place because of the power factor that's already bad due to the capacitor droppers and may be regulated on various locations. There are many elegant yet cheap and low-component design, and almost all do double the mains frequency.
The Game (Score:2)
No it won't (Score:2)
The build up of amyloid plaques is a symptom, not the cause. This buildup of plaques does cause a number of issues, but it is not itself the root cause of the issue. The proposed treatment might help reduce the buildup in the short term, but they will just keep building up.
Treating it will require insights into why the proteins are being produced in the way they are. Flashing lights, sound, and pills aren't going to get you there, though.
If it improves quality of life for sufferers, then it should be used
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That really depends on the mechanism. It could be treating either the symptom or the root cause based on the evidence of the plaques being reduced.
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I think it could work (Score:3)
I mean, I've been to a few Rave parties and none of the people there had Alzheimers.
Of course it could... (Score:2)
Could Brain Diseases Like Alzheimer's Be Treated With Flashing Lights? Of course. Just like multiple sclerosis is treated with bee stings and blessed vitamins are used to treat whatever ailment Jim Baker says it will cure.
They should be asking whether any of these treatments are actually therapeutic and improve the patient's health.
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50 or 60 Hz (Score:2)
If this is true, it means that we chose the wrong frequency for the mains power (50/60Hz).
Photobiomodulation ... clinical trial (Score:5, Informative)
I've been following this for some time, purely out of basic interest. I have no connection to the company, the technology, or the testing.
Clinical Trial info- https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2... [clinicaltrials.gov]
Company/Tech info- https://vielight.ca/technology... [vielight.ca]
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Oh, I also have no idea if this is exactly the same technology that's discussed in the article. All I know is that it sounds very similar.
Oblig MIB quote... (Score:2)
Possibly (Score:1)
This was predicted in the 70s (Score:2)
You realize this might mean that all the cheesy sci-fi films of the 60s and 70s were right, and all we needed to fix people's brains were some flashing colored lights?
What other great truths could be hidden inside Zardoz?
Damn the Details (Score:1, Informative)
No. Read further. (Score:3)
This summary does leave out one major detail: fiber optic must be implanted in the brain.
No, the effect was DISCOVERED using mice with fiber optics implanted in the brain to directly illuminate the cells.
But if you read a few paragraphs on you'll find that it works just fine with strobe lighting in front of the eye, or sound.
(I'd expect It to work with practically anything that would get substantial numbers of brain neurons firing together at the rate, either directly or by bombarding a sensory modality: m