Good vibrations? Jefferson research using fruit flies to test way to improve sleep, reduce risk of Alzheimer's
New research from Thomas Jefferson University could identify a new way to improve poor sleep and reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease — and fruit flies are at the center of the study.
Scientists say fruit flies and humans have similar genetic structures, meaning they have the same kind of diseases and the treatments that work on the flies can also have human applications.
It's intricate work on tiny fruit flies with potential big implications.
"We found that, yes, they can improve learning and memory," neuroscientist Kyunghee Koh said.
Koh is working on research at Thomas Jefferson University that is focused on sleep and brain health, and fruit flies are the test subjects.
"The way they sleep is quite similar to how humans sleep," Koh said. "[Fruit flies and humans] have lots of conserved mechanisms. They obviously sleep. They can learn and remember and they can make decisions."
It turns out, fruit flies sleep better with gentle vibration.
Researchers put a fly into a tube and then into a vibrating machine that Koh said was "like being in a car or being on a train.' They found that sleep-deprived flies had memory problems, but vibration-induced sleep reversed the cognitive deficits.
Koh showed CBS News Philadelphia imaging of a fly's brain. The green indicated amyloid, which causes cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. After motion-induced sleep, it's significantly reduced.
"We're hoping that this will lead to the use of kind of gentle sensory input to induce sleep instead of drugs and hopefully help Alzheimer's patients," Koh said.
There is still a long way to go to prove that repetitive sensory stimulation with something like vibration can help humans, but researchers say the early results on flies are impressive.
"The magnitude of the benefit was quite, actually quite surprising," Koh said. "It's very exciting."
What could be simple solutions to complex issues.
Researchers say they're focused on sleep because not getting enough is linked to a variety of problems, including Alzheimer's.
