Restoring Cellular Energy May Help Reverse Alzheimer’s Damage, Research Shows

Can Alzheimer’s be reversed? 

It’s a question scientists (and families) have been grappling with for years—and one that, until recently, has been met with cautious skepticism rather than clear answers. But new research published in Cell Reports Medicine1 just discovered a promising perspective. 

Using advanced Alzheimer’s mouse models alongside analyses of human brain tissue, scientists found evidence that restoring a single cellular molecule may do more than slow the disease. Under certain conditions, it appeared to reverse key features of Alzheimer’s, including cognitive decline.

The molecule is NAD⁺ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), a compound central to cellular energy, DNA repair, and brain resilience. And according to this research, disruptions in NAD⁺ balance may be a defining feature of Alzheimer’s severity, one that could be modifiable under the right conditions.

NAD⁺ plays a quiet but essential role in keeping brain cells alive and functional. It helps neurons generate energy, repair DNA damage2, manage oxidative stress, maintain the blood-brain barrier, and clear damaged proteins before they accumulate.

As we age, NAD⁺ levels naturally decline. But this study suggests Alzheimer’s disease involves a far more dramatic breakdown of NAD⁺ homeostasis, essentially tipping the brain into an energy and repair crisis it can’t recover from on its own.

To explore whether restoring NAD⁺ balance could actually change disease trajectory, researchers used two well-established mouse models of advanced Alzheimer’s, one driven by amyloid buildup and another by tau pathology.

In mice with already advanced Alzheimer’s-like disease, restoring NAD⁺ balance reversed hallmark features of the condition: tau phosphorylation, brain inflammation, oxidative stress, blood-brain barrier damage, and impaired neurogenesis. Most notably, the mice regained cognitive function, performing on memory tasks as well as healthy controls.

This research challenges the long-held assumption that cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s is driven primarily by irreversible neuron loss. Instead, it suggests that much of the early and mid-stage decline may stem from dysfunctional cellular processes, ones that leave neurons impaired but not yet dead.

When NAD⁺ homeostasis was restored, neurons regained function. Protein buildup decreased. Synaptic communication improved. Even markers used clinically to track Alzheimer’s severity dropped.

In other words, the brain’s decline may be less about permanent destruction and more about failing resilience.

It’s important to be clear that this was not a clinical trial in humans, and P7C3-A20 is not an approved Alzheimer’s treatment. But the study highlights NAD⁺ balance as a powerful upstream target, one that influences many of the processes known to drive neurodegeneration.

For everyday brain health, it reinforces a growing theme. Protecting cellular energy and repair systems matters. Sleep, regular movement, metabolic health, stress management, and nutrient sufficiency all influence NAD⁺ pathways. While lifestyle alone won’t reverse Alzheimer’s, these factors may help preserve brain resilience long before the disease takes hold.

Alzheimer’s disease has long been treated as an unstoppable process. This study offers a more hopeful (and more nuanced) view.

By restoring NAD⁺ homeostasis, researchers were able to reverse cognitive and biological features of advanced Alzheimer’s in animal models and identify parallel disruptions in human brains.