Researchers at the University of South Florida and James A. Haley Hospital have found that a human growth factor that stimulates blood stem cells to proliferate in the bone marrow reverses memory impairment. The findings were revealed after conducting experiments on mice genetically altered to develop Alzheimer's disease.

Writing about their work in the journal Neuroscience, the researchers revealed that the granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (GCSF) significantly reduced levels of the brain-clogging protein beta amyloid deposited in excess in the brains of the Alzheimer's mice, increased the production of new neurons, and promoted nerve cell connections.

According to background information in the research article, GCSF is a blood stem cell growth factor or hormone routinely administered to cancer patients whose blood stem cells and white blood cells have been depleted following chemotherapy or radiation.

The report points out that GCSF stimulates the bone marrow to produce more white blood cells needed to fight infection, and that it is used to boost the numbers of stem cells circulating in the blood of donors before the cells are harvested for bone marrow transplants.

Advanced clinical trials are now investigating the effectiveness of GCSF to treat stroke, and the compound was safe and well tolerated in early clinical studies of ischemic stroke patients.

"GCSF has been used and studied clinically for a long time, but we're the first group to apply it to Alzheimer's disease. This growth factor could potentially provide a powerful new therapy for Alzheimer's disease - one that may actually reverse disease, not just alleviate symptoms like currently available drugs," said USF neuroscientist Dr. Juan Sanchez-Ramos, the study's lead author.