Spanish scientists have developed a novel gene therapy that has been shown to reverse memory loss and other symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in mice.
 

If the technique proves as successful in humans, it holds promise as a potential treatment for the memory-robbing disease that affects about 5 million Americans.
 

The new work, by researchers from the Institute of Neuroscience at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, is an outgrowth a new discovery about the cellular mechanism involved in memory formation.
 

The new therapy consists of injecting into the hippocampus – a region of the brain essential to memory processing – a gene that causes the production of a protein that is blocked in patients with Alzheimer's. The therapy restores the so-called "Crtc1" protein, which helps promote long-term memory consolidation.
 

In people the disease, the formation of amyloid plaque aggregates prevents the Crtc1 protein from functioning correctly.
 

"When the Crtc1 protein is altered, the genes responsible for the synapsis or connections between neurons in the hippocampus cannot be activated and the individual cannot perform memory tasks correctly," explained lead researcher Carlos Saura.

"This study opens up new perspectives on therapeutic prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease, given that we have demonstrated that a gene therapy which activates the Crtc1 protein is effective in preventing the loss of memory in lab mice."
 

The research, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, paves the way for a new therapeutic approach to the disease.