"Strobe lighting has been shown to reduce levels of the toxic proteins seen in Alzheimers disease in findings that raise the tantalising possibility of future noninvasive treatments for the disease. The study in mice found that exposure to flickering light stimulated brain waves called gamma oscillations that are known to be disturbed in Alzheimers patients. Boosting this synchronous brain activity appeared to act as a cue for the brains immune cells prompting them to absorb the sticky amyloid proteins that are the most visible hallmarks of the disease in the brains of people with Alzheimers. The authors caution that a big if remains over whether the findings would be replicated in humans  and whether cognitive deficits as well as visible symptoms of the disease would be improved.  If humans behave similarly to mice in response to this treatment I would say the potential is just enormous because its so noninvasive and its so accessible said LiHuei Tsai director of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT and the papers senior author. Alzheimers research has faced a number of major setbacks  most recently the failure of Eli Lilys drug trial https  after promising results in rodents did not translate into clinical improvements for patients. The latest intervention scientists predict should be quicker and cheaper to confirm in humans than pharmaceuticals which typically take more than a decade to develop and assess for safety before the clinical efficacy is even examined. The study published on Wednesday httpnature.comarticlesdoi.nature in the journal Nature hinges on the observation that Alzheimers patients show a loss of synchronised brain activity known as gamma oscillations which is linked to attention and memory. To restore the activity the scientists first used mice that had been genetically engineered such that the neurons that generate gamma activity in the brain were sensitive to light. The technique known as optogenetics allowed the scientists to artificially cause groups of neurons to fire in unison by pulsing light into the brains of the mice. After an hour of stimulation the researchers found a roughly  reduction in the levels of beta amyloid proteins in the hippocampus the brains memory centre. Closer inspection showed that the amyloid had been taken up by microglia the brains immune cells. In a healthy brain microglia act as chemical rubbish collectors surveying the local environment clearing up unwanted compounds but in Alzheimers these cells can lose this function and switch into an inflammatory state in which they secrete toxic compounds instead. Strengthening gamma oscillations appeared to switch the microglia back into a productive state. Next the scientist showed that gamma oscillations could also be stimulated noninvasively in the visual brain region simply by exposing the mice to a flickering light. At Hz the flicker of the light is barely discernible and would be not offensive at all for a person to have in the background. After being given one hour of flickering light each day for a week the scientists saw a  reduction of harmful amyloid plaques in the brains of the mice.  Ed Mann an associate professor of neuroscience at the University of Oxford said I was surprised and its exciting that such a simple stimulus can target a molecular pathway and have such an effect in an hour. Questions remain however about whether boosting gamma oscillations and sweeping amyloid plaques out of the visual brain region would help with memory which is centred in the hippocampus or broader cognitive abilities. David Reynolds chief scientific officer at Alzheimers Research UK said It is conceivable that changing brain cell rhythms could be a future target for therapies but researchers will need to explore how light flickering approaches could not only reduce amyloid in the visual area of the brain but in those areas more commonly affected in Alzheimers. The authors suggest that it may be possible to take a multisensory approach using a combination of flashing lights and vibrating chairs. Tsai and Ed Boyden a colleague at MIT and coauthor have started a company called Cognito Therapeutics to pursue tests in humans. There are  people with dementia in Britain and this figure is expected to reach  million by . Earlier this year dementia overtook heart disease https as the leading cause of death in England and Wales."