Red and near infrared lights – can they help degenerative neurological diseases?
The discoveries about mitochondria continue to grow. A while back, it became clear that many neurodegenerative diseases, especially Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, resulted from the cell batteries, the mitochondria, failing to properly power up the cell. This results in the cell being unable to do its job, for example making dopamine. It also results in the … Continue reading “Mitochondria have a social-life!”
Thomas Ryan and David Tumbarello, two British researchers, published a very interesting two-page review article due to be published in September 2021, but made available early. It seems that mitochondria, the batteries in our cells, aren’t merely being driven by other, more high-status, parts of the cell. It looks like the mitochondria themselves might be … Continue reading “Magnificent mitochondria”
Alzheimer’s disease researchers have had to do a complete revision of thinking. For decades, the focus has been on getting rid of an abnormal protein, called amyloid, that plonks itself in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s. It was a reasonable hypothesis. Amyloid and Alzheimer’s seem to go together, so it seemed logical that in … Continue reading “Mitochondria & Alzheimer’s”
Mitochondria get a lot of airplay in this blog. (Here’s an early post.) The mitochondrial experts of the world have been blown away by new research. It seems that our blood not only contains the various sorts of red and white cells, but it also contains nomadic mitochondria. This is amazing! Here’s why.
For a really good general article about mitochondria, click here. Some fascinating ideas are presented about how the mitochondria came to be. These ideas fit beautifully with the otherwise perplexing fact that mitochondria can respond to specific wavelengths.
A recent article compared the action of visible red 660nm with near-infrared 980nm. The 660nm wavelength is a very lovely and rich shade of red, very much like the red velvet in Gwen’s photo of theatre curtains. In contrast, the wavelength 980nm is way out of the visible range and our eyes cannot see it … Continue reading “Wavelengths matter”
Red lights on the brain 