Journal of Alzheimers Disease & Parkinsonism
Open Access

Commentary

The Power of Music on Alzheimer Disease and the Need to Understand the Underlying Molecular Mechanisms

Carmela Matrone^1* and Elvira Brattico²

¹Institute of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Bartholins Alle, 6, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark

²Center for Music in the Brain (MIB), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University & Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Denmark

Corresponding Author:

Carmela Matrone
Institute of Biomedicine, Aarhus University
Bartholins Alle, 6, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
Tel: +45-87167252
E-mail: matrone@ biomed.au.dk

Received date: September 07, 2015; Accepted date: October 13, 2015; Published date: October 20, 2015

Citation: Matrone C, Brattico E (2015) The Power of Music on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Need to Understand the Underlying Molecular Mechanisms. J Alzheimers Dis Parkinsonism 5:196. doi: 10.4172/2161-0460.1000196

Copyright: © 2015 Matrone C, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, is a neurodegenerative disorder that leads to memory loss. The prevalence of AD varies among many different factors, including age, comorbidities, genetics, and education level. There is no way to definitively diagnose AD before performing an autopsy. There is no cure for AD, although large economical efforts are currently capitalized in promising research and development of new strategies. The purpose of this commentary is to review what we already know about the effects of music treatment on AD. Beside not curative of AD, the use of music seems to exert beneficial effects on Alzheimer’s symptoms. In turn, we briefly summarize the accumulated evidence on the effects of music on brain plasticity, discussing the necessity to further investigate the molecular mechanisms governing this plasticity, with a particular focus on the brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). We believe that a further comprehension of how music influences the molecular processes in the human neuronal network might open new perspectives to enhance quality of life for both the patient and his or her caregivers.