Scientists are optimistic that it will not be long before a treatment for dementia, including Alzheimer’s, is found. A study of guinea pigs showed that a drug that had been on the market for 22 years caused the effects of the disease, which seemed irreversible, to disappear. Basically, the brain “repaired” itself.
The discovery paves the way for treatments to restore patients’ memory, including spatial memory, to dementia, such as Alzheimer’s. Science Alert.
The drug with which this result was obtained is zileuton (or Zyflo), announced a team of researchers from Temple University in Philadelphia.
There are many pieces missing in understanding Alzheimer’s, but it is known that your proteins block the connections that normally occur between neurons. The drug has a direct effect on these proteins, but also on the amyloid precursor protein (APP), also involved in the onset of the disease.
In one experiment, guinea pigs that had been genetically engineered to have symptoms similar to dementia were divided into two groups. One was treated with the drug mentioned and another with placebo.
After 16 weeks, the guinea pigs who were given jute daily did better in the maze-type tests, presenting even fewer of the listed proteins, much less than at the beginning of the experiment, which means that their brain had “partially” repaired itself. period.
In fact, after this treatment, the synapses of rodents treated with zileuton looked as healthy as those of animals that had not been diagnosed with dementia.
“It’s really impressive what we discovered. For the first time, we show that something can be done after the disease has set in,” said Domenico Pratico, the study’s coordinator.
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