Photo-sleep therapy of Alzheimer’s disease

• Published in: The European physical journal. ST, Special topics Vol. 233; no. 3; pp. 685 - 690
• Main Authors: Terskov, Andrey, Evsukova, Arina, Blokhina, Inna, Tzoy, Maria, Zlatogorskaya, Daria, Adushkina, Victoria
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Alzheimer's disease; Atomic; Classical and Continuum Physics; Condensed Matter Physics; Materials Science; Measurement Science and Instrumentation; Molecular; Neuro-Sleep as a Complex System; Optical and Plasma Physics; Pharmacology; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Regular Article; Sleep; Wakefulness
• ISSN: 1951-6355; 1951-6401
• DOI: 10.1140/epjs/s11734-024-01141-2

The incidence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is steadily increasing worldwide every year. It is predicted that the number of people with AD will reach 152 million by 2050 if no effective treatment is found. Despite this, traditional pharmacological interventions for Alzheimer’s disease have not proven to be both effective and safe. As a result, the search for non-pharmacological approaches to the treatment of Alzheimer's disease has become a pressing concern in the field of medicine. Recently, sleep has emerged as a new potential indicator of AD and a target for therapy. In this context, we present a pioneering concept involving the use of phototherapy for AD specifically during sleep. Our research shows that administration of photobiomodulation (at 1050 nm, 3.5 kJ/cm 2 ) during deep sleep, as opposed to wakefulness, significantly enhances the clearance of amyloid-beta from the brain lymphatic system, leading to improved metabolic function and cognitive performance in AD-affected mice. These innovative findings shed light on the mechanism of sleep's restorative powers and provide a valuable foundation for the advancement of cutting-edge technologies aimed at treating Alzheimer's disease while the patient sleeps.