Researchers have used blue LED lights to prevent the build-up of a protein known to cause Alzheimer’s disease, an advance that may pave the way for light-induced treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. Scientists from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology conducted a study to suppress abnormal assembly of beta-amyloids, a protein commonly found in the brain, by using photo-excited porphyrins.

Beta-amyloid plaques Beta-amyloid plaques are known to cause Alzheimer’s disease. The finding suggests new ways to treat neurodegenerative illnesses including Alzheimer’s disease. Light-induced treatments using organic photosensitisers have advantages to managing the treatment in time and area.

Therapies used In the case of cancer treatments, doctors use photodynamic therapies where a patient is injected with an organic photosensitiser, and a light is shed on the patient’s lesion.

The research team effectively prevented the build-up of beta-amyloids by using blue LED lights and a porphyrin inducer, which is a biocompatible organic compound.

“This work has significance as it was the first case to use light and photosensitisers to stop deposits of beta-amyloids,” said Chan Beum Park of the Materials Science and Engineering Department at KAIST.

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