See these brain scans above. The one of the left is a normal, healthy brain. The less colorful one at right belong to a person with Alzheimer's. The reason why the right image is less colorful has to do with the death of brain tissue from these neurodegenerative diseases. But a new compound being tested on mice is helping scientists to come up with a cure.

The compound was used on mice suffering from prion disease, which is a condition characterized by the production of faulty, or misfolded, proteins (basically an Alzheimer's version for mice). When the mice received the new oral treatment, the compound shut down the pathway responsible for this cognitive degeneration.

However, the downside of the treatment was that it wrecked other organs like the pancreas, resulting in severe weight loss and diabetes. Nevertheless, the researchers believe this could be a turning point in the search for medicines to control and prevent Alzheimer's disease.

Read the entire study in Science