Hibernating bears could hold the key to Alzheimer's treatment

There's no known cure for Alzheimer's disease, but scientists may be one step closer to treating the condition. And it's all thanks to bears' hibernation.

Scientists at the University of Leicester in England simulated bears' hibernation process in mice, who don't normally go into hibernation. They then studied the mice's brains and found a way to prevent the loss of brain cells.

Vice explains that during bears' hibernation, their body temperatures decrease, and synapses between brain cells are decreased. As the bears' temperatures increase when winter is over, their brain cell connections are restored, thanks to RBM3, a "cold shock" protein. When the researchers decreased the body temperatures of mice bred to develop neurological disorders, they found that both brain cell regeneration and RBM3 levels decreased as the diseases worsened.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

But when the researchers gave the "neurologically compromised" mice higher levels of RBM3, their brain cell connections didn't deteriorate. The researchers concluded that RBM3 "could help protect brain function without the need for cooling core body temperature," according to Vice. The scientists are now searching for a way to mimic the effects of brain cooling.