Thanks to a strange connection between Alzheimer’s disease and addiction, researchers, drug makers, and technology developers are searching for new ways to rectify both.
According to Science Daily, researchers from Texas AandM University are developing drugs to enhance the function of receptors in the brain, which could not only slow the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease, but also help people quit their addictions easier.
“Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors have different functions, biophysical properties and pharmacological characteristics,” said Ayman K. Hamouda, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Texas AandM College of Pharmacy and the Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics. “We’re trying to develop drugs to modulate those functions, but in a far more selective way than anything currently on the market.”
In 2011, the U.S. government allotted $450 million for Alzheimer’s research in a quest to discover new treatments. Now, Scientific American reports that a new technology that uses magnetism to regulate neural activity could help individuals cope with, at least for now, mild forms of Alzheimer’s.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared an electronic cognitive training process that uses repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for individuals suffering from depression and/or migraines. However, researchers are also attempting to use this magnetic brain stimulation technology to treat Alzheimer’s patients as well.
Over the last few years, researchers have also studied how individuals cope with Alzheimer’s as well as addiction, and whether or not a strong correlation exists.
Of the 20.5 million American adults that had a substance use disorder in 2015, roughly 2 million of them abused prescription pain pills and 591,000 had a substance use disorder involving heroin.
When scientists at the University of Edinburgh studied the brains of 34 deceased heroin and methadone drug users and compared them to the brains of 16 drug free individuals, they made a surprising discovery. The researchers found that the drug users had significant brain damage that was usually only found in the elderly. Damaged nerve cells were found in areas of the brain pertaining to learning, emotional wellbeing, and memory loss, which is similar to the early stages of Alzheimer’s.
That’s obviously troubling, as addiction has become a major epidemic around the world, one that affects millions of drug abusers and their families. Every year there are approximately 110 million visits to U.S. emergency rooms, many of which involve drug overdoses and other drug and alcohol related issues.
Now, the same magnetic brain stimulation technology being used to treat Alzheimer’s patients is also being used to help people deal with addiction issues.
Simon Fraser University professor Faranak Farzan, inaugural chair in Technology Innovations for Youth Addiction Recovery and Mental Health, has been leading research into this new, non-invasive technology that combats depression and addiction.
“We can use technology to understand how the brain works and create these ‘glasses’ and ‘lenses,’ but for the brain,” said Farzan, who also is a neuro-engineer in the School of Mechatronic Systems Engineering. “In this way, we try to normalize the brain into a state that it should be in, so it can function. We’re creating technological solutions that could help someone who doesn’t have the necessary biological means to activate the same brain processes in the brain to have a normal life.”
Although there are plenty of Americans (about 95.4%) who participate in charitable giving each year, many of whom donate money to organizations that help combat Alzheimer’s disease and drug addiction, there is still more work to be done. In fact, researchers are just now learning enough about these diseases to explore potential treatments — let alone cures.
If you’re interested in jump starting this kind of research, here are a few legitimate charities that are working towards improving the lives of Alzheimer’s patients and individuals struggling with addiction.
- Alzheimer’s Association
- Alzheimer’s Foundation of America
- Long Island Alzheimer’s Foundation
- Foundation For Alcoholism Research
- The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse
- Partnership for Drug-Free Kids
