‘Rebooting’ the brain to cure memory loss: podcast

A recent study may have found the underlying reason behind memory loss in dementia.

Researchers from the University of Melbourne say that it could be due to a signalling problem in the brain rather than the loss of the actual memories.

By making the brain cells glow, they were able to track the brain circuits laying down memories and remembering them.

"Just like the heart, sometimes you get arrhythmia where the heart doesn't work in the right rhythm and doesn't pump very well," explains lead-researcher Dr Chris French.

"What doctors then do is they re-synchronise the heart.

"And we suspect there might be something similar happening with Alzheimer's disease.

"Somehow, the normal rhythm of the neural circuit has been disrupted and if we can re-synchronise those circuits, we may be able to repair the damage done by the diseases' process."

Join Aged Care Insite in a deep dive into the neuroscience behind dementia and what possible treatments could be available in the future.

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