Friday, February 08, 2008

Scientists Discover Way to Reverse Memory Loss

By Jeremy Laurance,
Health Editor, The Independent


Scientists performing experimental brain surgery on a man aged 50 have stumbled across a mechanism that could unlock how memory works.


The accidental breakthrough came during an experiment originally intended to suppress the obese man's appetite, using the increasingly successful technique of deep-brain stimulation.

Electrodes were pushed into the man's brain and stimulated with an electric current. Instead of losing appetite, the patient instead had an intense experience of déjà vu. He recalled, in intricate detail, a scene from 30 years earlier. More tests showed his ability to learn was dramatically improved when the current was switched on and his brain stimulated.


Scientists are now applying the technique in the first trial of the treatment in patients with Alzheimer's disease. If successful, it could offer hope to sufferers from the degenerative condition, which affects 450,000 people in Britain alone, by providing a "pacemaker" for the brain.


CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY

No comments: