New Drug Shows Potential to Reverse Effects of Alzheimer’s Disease in Affected Individuals

A great news for people suffering from alzheimer’s disease as a drug shows potential to reverse its effects on rats.

Millions of people around the world are getting affected by this disease and currently there are only five medications approved by the FDA for treating it. However these drugs only alleviate its symptoms and does not treat the disease.

Risk Factors for Alzheimers Disease
Cognitively normal adults exhibiting atrophy of their temporal lobe or damage to blood vessels in the brain are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

A team of researchers at Midwestern University has discovered a new drug called IRL-1620 that offers new hope in treating the disease itself. IRL-1620 binds to endothelin B receptors that are important for brain development. By stimulation, these receptors can help to protect the nervous system.

Dr.Seema Briyal said, "We used the novel approach of stimulating the endothelin B receptors by intravenous injection of IRL-1620 to prevent and repair the damage to the brain caused by Alzheimer’s disease."

Rats with Alzheimer’s disease show an impaired learning and memory capacity as oxidative stress increases. The study showed that IRL-1620 reversed those effects, and intravenous injection with the drug improved memory by 50 to 60 percent and reduced oxidative stress by 45 to 50 percent.

Young Blood to Cure Decline of Aging Brain
A research showed that injections of juvenile mouse blood boosts learning and memory in older rodents, findings that hold the long-sought cure for the decline of ageing brain.

"We also found that treatment with IRL-1620 enhanced certain recovery processes within the AD-damaged brain, resulting in more new blood vessels and neuronal cells. This indicates reparative processes occurring in the damaged brain."

According to Briyal and her team, this is the first study to demonstrate that intravaneously injecting IRL-1620 can reverse the neurological effects of Alzheimer’s disease by stimulating the endothelin B receptors in rats. This research offers great hope for those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and their families as currently there is no cure for the debilitating disease.

Understanding Epilepsy, Alzheimer With New Mice Study
Process of working of brain could be better understood with a new study on mice, which could open doors in studying epilepsy, Alzheimer's and other diseases.

Source-Medindia

World Alzheimer Report 2015: Cases of Dementia To Nearly Triple By 2050
The global cost burden of dementia has risen by more than 35 percent over the last five years to $818 billion (709 billion euros) in 2015.