A drug commonly prescribed to Alzheimer's disease patients boosts perceptual learning in healthy adults, neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have found.
In a new study, researchers found that study participants showed significantly greater benefits from practice on a task that involved discriminating directions of motion after they took donepezil, sold under the brand name Aricept, compared with a placebo.
Alzheimers Disease
Alzheimer''s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting memory and thinking and making the person increasingly dependent on others.
Advertisement
Neither the researchers nor the participants knew whether they were taking the placebo or donepezil, a cholinesterase inhibitor that enhances the effects of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the brain.
Cholinesterase inhibitors act by blocking an enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine.
Acetylcholine is known to play an important role in mediating visual attention and, in animal studies, has been found to promote changes in the brain that are associated with learning.
![Schizophrenia]( "Schizophrenia")
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by symptoms of thought, behavior and social problems.
Donepezil, like other cholinesterase inhibitors, is used to treat early stages of Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
Previous research on donepezil has focused primarily on its beneficial effects on quality of life and clinical symptoms in patient populations.
However, little was known about the specific cognitive processes that are enhanced by this drug.
"We wanted to better understand the biological mechanisms that underlie the ability to learn new tasks and to shed light on which specific neural processes are being enhanced by donepezil," said the study's principal investigator, Michael Silver, UC Berkeley assistant professor of optometry and neuroscience.
"This is the first study to show that donepezil can enhance learning of a new skill, even in normal, healthy people."
The study has been published online in the journal Current Biology.
Source: ANI
Acetylcholine is known to play an important role in mediating visual attention and, in animal studies, has been found to promote changes in the brain that are associated with learning.
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by symptoms of thought, behavior and social problems.
Advertisement
Donepezil, like other cholinesterase inhibitors, is used to treat early stages of Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
Previous research on donepezil has focused primarily on its beneficial effects on quality of life and clinical symptoms in patient populations.
However, little was known about the specific cognitive processes that are enhanced by this drug.
"We wanted to better understand the biological mechanisms that underlie the ability to learn new tasks and to shed light on which specific neural processes are being enhanced by donepezil," said the study's principal investigator, Michael Silver, UC Berkeley assistant professor of optometry and neuroscience.
"This is the first study to show that donepezil can enhance learning of a new skill, even in normal, healthy people."
The study has been published online in the journal Current Biology.
Source: ANI
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a reading disability that occurs when the brain does not properly recognize and process certain symbols.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Recommended Reading
Latest Drug News
India's First Urinary Incontinence Drug Fesobig may offer Affordable treatment for Overactive Bladder (OAB), a widely prevalent problem among Indian men and women.
Oral anticoagulant drugs, particularly Rivaroxaban presented superior efficacy and safety than warfarin in atrial fibrillation patients with chronic kidney disease.
Patients with hepatitis D virus-related chronic advanced liver disease are treated with an antiviral therapy.
Among people with COVID-19, Paxlovid drug was found to reduce hospitalization and death risk by 90%, revealed study.
Lilly will likely maintain or increase its market share in the insulin space as the average out-of-pocket cost for its insulin products is already below the $35 price cap.
