AsianScientist (Apr. 13, 2015) – A study in mice published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests than an existing stroke drug could be used to treat Alzheimer’s disease, a major social and economic burden worldwide.
Scientists from Third Military Medical University in Chongqing and the University of South Australia (UniSA) have discovered that the drug Edaravone can alleviate the progressive cognitive deficits of Alzheimer’s disease.
Edaravone is currently available only in some Asian countries for the treatment of ischemic stroke–the most common type of stroke which is caused by blood clots.
Lead researcher Professor Zhou Xin-Fu, who is UniSA’s Research Chair in Neurosciences, says Edaravone can alleviate Alzheimer’s disease pathologies and improve functions of learning and memory–in a mouse model of the disease–by multiple mechanisms.
“Edaravone can bind the toxic amyloid peptide which is a major factor leading to degeneration of nerve cells,” Zhou says.
Zhou says lessons from failures of current clinical trials suggest that targeting multiple key pathways of the Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis is necessary to halt the disease progression.
“Edaravone can suppress the toxic functions of amyloid beta to nerve cells–it is a free radical scavenger which suppresses oxidative stress that is a main cause of brain degeneration,” he says.
“The drug can suppress the production of amyloid beta by inhibiting the amyloid beta production enzyme. It also inhibits the Tau hyperphosphorylation which can generate tangles accumulated in the brain cells and disrupt brain functions.”
Nonetheless, the researchers stress that Edaravone should not be used for Alzheimer’s patients before appropriate clinical trials are undertaken.
The article can be found at: Jiao et al. (2015) Edaravone Alleviates Alzheimer’s Disease-Type Pathologies and Cognitive Deficits.
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Source: University of South Australia; Photo: Allan Ajifo/Flickr/CC.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.
