Hope for brain disease treatment
Monday November 16th, 2009
A drug used to treat Alzheimer's disease may be able to tackle another unpleasant brain disease, researchers reported last night.
Laboratory studies suggest that the drug Memantine may help against Huntington's disease - an inherited brain disease, scientists said.
The findings hinge on the idea that busy brains can stave off diseases such as Alzheimer's. The scientists at the Burnham Institute, La Jolla, California, USA, say they have shown how this works - because normal electrical signals in the brain, caused by mental activity, can stop disease.
The drug Memantine has a similar ability to keep brain activity normal, they say.
Reporting in Nature Medicine, the researchers say they have successfully treated laboratory mice bred to have human Huntington's disease. Human tests have also proved positive.
Researcher Professor Stuart Lipton said: "This verifies that appropriate electrical activity is protective, supporting the 'use it or lose it theory' of brain activity at the molecular level.
"For example, this finding may explain why epidemiologists have found that using your brain by performing crossword puzzles and other games can stave off cognitive decline in diseases like Alzheimer's."
He added: "By serendipity Memantine at the right concentration has the ability to protect the brain, probably not just from Alzheimer's but other diseases, in this case Huntington's."
The Californian researchers worked with a team at the University of British Columbia, Canada, on the project and are now hoping for a major international trial of the treatment.
Nature Medicine November 15 2009 doi:10.1038/nm.2056
Tags: Brain & Neurology | North America | Pharmaceuticals
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