Despite Alzheimer’s disease being known about for well over a century, few major developments in diagnosing or treating it have been made up until recently.
Dr. Tyler Wenzel, a postdoctoral fellow supervised by Dr. Darrell Mousseau, a professor in the department of Psychiatry at the University of Saskatchewan, is conducting research that could revolutionize the way we diagnose and treat diseases of the brain. Using stem cells found in blood, Wenzel says he found a way to grow small, yet highly functional “mini-brains,” which can simplify the diagnosis of things like Alzheimer’s.
“You actually can’t confirm a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease until the patient passes away, because you have to do an autopsy. So this could potentially, given enough patient samples and a large enough population size, we could actually maybe confirm diagnosis before death.”
The mini-brains provide a much more realistic example of brain tissue than that of mice or already deceased individuals. A clearer image of brain tissue lets Wenzel and his team see the effects of brain disease in more detail, bringing to light things that would have been missed using other tissue.
These mini-brains are grown from blood alone, using stem cells to grow three-millimetre-long clusters that resemble the patient’s brain nearly identically. Growing the mini-brains from blood means those living in rural areas can save time, money and energy in getting a diagnosis or treatment for diseases of the brain.
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Patients can visit a blood clinic or local hospital and the collected blood can be shipped to a lab for analysis regardless of location. The usual six- to eight-month process for diagnosis or treatment is dropped down to around two months.
Though the analysis process is still a matter of months, Wenzel says it’s about getting people the care they need.
“If we could diagnose in about two months, then we can get patients on treatments a lot sooner and they can start getting care sooner, which should hopefully improve their quality of life.”
Wenzel’s mini-brains have all the cell types present in a typical human brain. While mouse brain tissue is from a completely different species and cadaver tissue is already dead, the mini-brains can send and receive signals as though they were in a live person’s skull.
The mini-brains’ simplicity was also one of the most complex challenges in proving Wenzel’s theory that you can grow functioning brain tissue from stem cells. Unless looked at under a microscope, the brain tissue just looks like regular tissue. It wasn’t until skeptics saw the folds in the brain tissues that others from academia began to support the idea.
Kaleta Strain, CEO of the Alzheimer’s Society of Saskatchewan, says Wenzel’s research is a welcome sign of hope to those afflicted with brain disease.
“It’s always exciting to know the difference that it could make for people living with dementia and really driving towards that hope that one day we can find a cause and a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia.”
Though Wenzel’s research is still a newer concept, the initial results from tests are extremely promising. With enough time and study, the research could very well lead to treatments and cures for brain diseases thought incurable.
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