In the United States, an experimental nasal spray has been developed to combat age-related cognitive decline. This spray not only effectively reduces neuroinflammation but also restores cognitive functions. Unlike conventional approaches, it prompts the body to recover memory by reprogramming microglial cells, circumventing the need for complex surgical procedures.
This novel technology was developed by specialists at Texas A&M University in the US, with their findings published in the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles. Current strategies for dementia primarily focus on addressing the established consequences of diseases, attempting to clear toxic plaques from neural tissue. This often means that therapy begins too late.
This conventional approach has significant drawbacks. Chronic neuroinflammation develops in deep brain structures alongside aging, and this inflammation is a major contributor to cognitive impairments. Furthermore, many traditional medications struggle to cross the blood-brain barrier, preventing them from reaching the central nervous system effectively.
The new treatment operates on a fundamentally different principle, gently bypassing the body’s protective barriers. Its core components are extracellular vesicles – microscopic biological sacs that directly reduce inflammatory stress in brain cells and restore their energy balance. Previously, efforts to deliver therapeutic agents to deep brain regions were often unsuccessful, as the drug molecules were degraded by the body’s filtering mechanisms, necessitating risky direct injections into the skull. Researchers in the US have overcome this challenge by isolating vesicles from healthy human stem cells. Administered as a nasal spray, these vesicles target specific areas, initiating repair in the hippocampus with minimal impact on other organs.
In animal trials, the spray yielded promising results: it restored cognitive functions, brought back spatial memory, and completely suppressed neuroinflammatory sites. Professor Ashok Shetty, one of the lead researchers, emphasized that the condition of the hippocampus is directly linked to learning ability. He stated that their method offers a genuine prospect for enhancing mental health without causing detrimental damage to aging brain cells.
Importantly, the approach has already demonstrated its versatility in tests conducted on subjects of both sexes. The study involved elderly rodents aged 18 months, an age comparable to humans aged 50 to 70. Just two doses showed excellent tolerability and restored memory for several months. The next phase will be preparation for comprehensive trials to evaluate the actual therapeutic efficacy of these biological sacs in humans.
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