A New Study Could Help Scientists Restore Sleep in Alzheimer’s Patients

Sleeper Cell: Alzheimer’s can affect more than memory — it also often disrupts sleep. Scientists have long investigated how the disease’s hallmark amyloid plaques (sticky protein clumps) and damage to neurons might contribute to sleep problems. But now, a new mouse study has identified a different suspect — immune cells in the brain. It gives researchers hope they may be close to finding a treatment that restores lost sleep for Alzheimer’s patients.  

The Study: University of Kentucky researchers tracked brain activity in both normally aging mice and mice genetically predisposed to develop plaques. In the latter, immune cells called microglia appeared to overreact to the plaques, setting off inflammation that disrupted deep sleep. When a drug temporarily cleared about 87% of those cells, the mice slept more than two hours longer each day, even though the plaques remained.

The Takeaway: Deep sleep helps the brain clear waste products and other build-up from the day, so protecting it might help break a vicious cycle where poor sleep and the disease feed off each other.

Keep in Mind: The team is now testing whether existing drugs like the diabetes medication metformin can calm microglia. However, this was a mouse study, so the results might not translate to humans.