What if fighting Alzheimer’s someday involves lying on a vibrating mattress? It sounds like something you’d find in a futuristic wellness gadget ad, but researchers in Finland are exploring a version of that idea.
A small human study found that combining gentle whole-body vibrations with nitric oxide-releasing pills appeared to boost the brain’s waste-disposal system, increasing the movement of an Alzheimer’s-linked protein into the bloodstream. Participants had an average 35% increase in beta-amyloid 42 in their blood after the session. That could be a sign that more of the protein was moving out of the brain, although researchers still need to establish exactly what happened.
Your brain has its own waste-disposal system
The brain has a network called the glymphatic system, which helps remove waste products from the spaces surrounding brain cells. Think of it as the brain’s cleanup crew, moving unwanted material through channels that run alongside blood vessels before it can be disposed of elsewhere in the body.
One of the proteins researchers are interested in is beta-amyloid 42. It normally plays a role in how neurons communicate, but it can misfold and form clumps in people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Scientists have been exploring ways to get the glymphatic system working more effectively, partly because the buildup of beta-amyloid is associated with the disease. Previous experiments have looked at everything from ultrasound and bursts of pink noise during sleep to inhaling high doses of carbon dioxide. The latest research takes a different approach by combining whole-body vibrations with nitric oxide.
Why researchers paired vibrations with nitric oxide
The idea builds on earlier studies in mice. Researchers found that body vibrations can activate a motion-sensitive protein called Piezo1, which is present in muscle cells within the walls of blood vessels in the brain. Activating this protein helps blood vessels dilate and constrict more strongly. That movement may help push waste fluid through the glymphatic system.
Nitric oxide, a substance naturally produced in the brain, also causes blood vessels to widen. According to Vesa Kiviniemi of the University of Oulu in Finland, this can narrow the surrounding glymphatic channels, increasing pressure on the fluid and helping it move out more quickly.
The researchers suspected that combining the two mechanisms could produce a stronger effect than using either one alone.
A 40-minute session produced a 35% change
Kiviniemi and his colleagues recruited 29 adults who had no diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease or other cognitive problems. Participants took a pill that dissolves under the tongue and releases nitric oxide before lying on a mattress that gently vibrated their bodies. The session lasted 40 minutes, with another pill taken halfway through.
Afterward, blood tests showed that beta-amyloid 42 levels had increased by an average of 35%.
The researchers believe this could mean the glymphatic system had moved more of the protein from the brain into the bloodstream. Tuomas Lilius of the University of Helsinki, who wasn’t involved in the research, described the increase as substantial and potentially biologically relevant.
Brain scans also suggested that fluid movement through the glymphatic channels had increased. Interestingly, the researchers tested the mattress vibrations and nitric oxide pills separately on the same participants. Those individual approaches appeared to have less than half the effect of the combined treatment, suggesting that the two methods may work better together.
What the results might mean
A rise in beta-amyloid 42 in the blood is encouraging, but it does not automatically prove that the brain has cleared more of the protein. Christopher Brown of the University of Southampton, who was not involved in the study, pointed out that the treatment might also slow the breakdown of beta-amyloid 42 in the liver. That could increase the amount detected in the bloodstream without necessarily meaning more of it had left the brain.
Future experiments could use markers injected into cerebrospinal fluid to measure glymphatic movement more directly.
There were also some mild side effects. Six participants reported issues such as nausea and headaches, although the researchers noted that expectations surrounding the nitric oxide pills could have influenced some of those experiences. Future studies are expected to include placebo pills to help separate the treatment’s actual effects from the placebo effect.
Most importantly, this is not something to experiment with at home. Kiviniemi warned that nitric oxide can lower blood pressure, potentially causing someone who already has low blood pressure to lose consciousness. The use of high-dose carbon dioxide in other experimental approaches also carries risks.
Next steps
The researchers hope to test the combined treatment in 60 people with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease next year. Results could follow within the subsequent two years.
If that trial goes well, they want to study what happens when people receive the treatment regularly over several months. A longer study would help determine whether improving glymphatic activity can translate into measurable changes in memory, problem-solving and other cognitive abilities.
For now, the vibrating mattress is an interesting experimental tool, not an Alzheimer’s treatment.
Sources: New Scientist, Yahoo! Health