Developed by researchers in the US, the remarkable new treatment could one day be used to treat patients in advanced stages of dementia by restoring the brain's ability to recover from ongoing neurodegeneration.

"The new neurons can become mature and survive," says senior author Peisheng Xu, a pharmaceutical researcher at the University of South Carolina.

"We also confirmed much higher neuron density in the brains of treated mice."

Alzheimer's disease is a battle between cell growth and the steady loss of neurons to inflammation. Because the brain can't quickly replace lost nerve cells in critical areas such as the hippocampus, people with the disease lose memory, cognition, and eventually the ability to feed or safely maintain balance.