Health 411- Alzheimer's and Auditory Stimulation

Alzheimer's Disease is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the buildup of Amyloid Beta plaques and Tau proteins. The initial symptoms often manifest as a loss of cognitive function, especially with learning and memory. Currently, there are numerous pharmaceutical ways to treat the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, including drugs to manage the severity of symptoms and clearing plaque. However, a recent paper from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) shows that a new non-pharmaceutical treatment may be a valuable prospect in future Alzheimer's research.This paper details the use of an auditory stimulation of 40Hz on Rhesus macaques possibly clearing Amyloid Beta plaques from the brains of elderly macaques with Alzheimer's pathology. Today, Dr. Jonathan Karp and student producer Kaya Basatemur discuss this paper and what it could mean for future Alzheimer's research and theoretical treatments.