Scientists have discovered a promising method of treating…

Russian scientists from St Petersburg University, together with Belgian and Italian colleagues, have found a promising approach to the treatment of people with Alzheimer's disease, which will make it possible to create a drug to combat this disease, which is considered incurable. In the course of research, scientists have determined that when a number of brain receptors are activated, processes that are associated specifically with Alzheimer's disease are reversed. After that, they conducted laboratory tests of this technique on animals, which showed that rodents treated with the new method experienced partial recovery of memory and cognitive functions.

With Alzheimer's, which affects more than 27 million people worldwide, connections among neurons in the brain are disrupted, which ultimately leads to problems with thinking and gaps in memory, but in these studies, scientists have shown that it is possible to restore some part of the brain due to activation in neurons of special receptors for amines - these are amino acid residues present in the brain.

As the researchers clarified, “trace amines” have been detected in brain tissues for a long time - they are similar in structure to the hormones dopamine and serotonin, but it was not previously known whether they play any role in brain neurons. Now, due to the discovery of special receptors, scientists have confirmed the participation of amines in the work of neurons.

First of all, experts drew attention to the TAAR1 receptor, which is currently the most studied of several subtypes of similar receptors. By activating TAAR1, they were able to partially normalize the functioning of the brain in patients with Alzheimer's disease - such a process "wakes up" the very system of interneuronal signaling, which freezes in Alzheimer's.

In particular, one group of rodents with dementia was injected with the TAAR1 activator receptor by neuroscientists, while the second group did not receive any therapy. As a result, the mice of the first group became much calmer and also began to show improved memory.