Credits: Social Media
Drug used to treat Parkinson’s disease could also help Alzheimer’s sufferers
Japanese researchers recently found that a drug commonly used to treat Parkinsons disease could also have the potential to combat certain aspects of Alzheimers disease.
The studys authors, from Saitama and Nagasaki, investigated the effects of Parkinsons treatment on laboratory mice in AD model mice, aka mice that have Alzheimers disease& sort of. Mice dont naturally get Alzheimers. Scientists genetically modify them to produce proteins that mimic the disease. This appears to be why the mice in this study are AD model mice rather than mice with Alzheimers.
Scientists experimenting on lab mice discover route to treat Alzheimers
This is the complex science-y part, broken down in a way that (hopefully) makes it understandable.
People with Alzheimers disease have a buildup of something called amyloid-beta in their brains. Its a chain of amino acids that coagulates into plaques in the brain and has been associated with dementia since the late 1900s.
It impairs brain function and contributes to negative decline.�
Fortunately, there is a specific type of enzyme that breaks down amyloid-beta. When the brain releases dopamine from a specific area, it triggers the production of that enzyme, which helps to break down the amyloid plaques that cause dementia and Alzheimers disease. And theres a drug already in use in modern medicine that triggers the production of dopamine in that part of the brain.
The drug is called levodopa. Its a precursor to dopamine, which is produced naturally by the human body via a process called biosynthesis.
The research appeared in the journal Science Signaling on August 6, 2024.
- GOOD TO KNOW: High cholesterol and vision loss are new preventable risk factors for dementia, say scientists
Potential new Alzheimers disease treatment is already in use to treat Parkinsons
The fun thing with levodopa is that its already the first-line drug for the management of Parkinsons motor symptoms. The Parkinsons Foundation describes it as the most potent medication for the disease.
Levodopas development in the 1960s was one of the most important breakthroughs in the history of medicine, it adds.
Parkinsons disease patients take it in pill form, mixed with carbidopa, because if you take it by itself it can induce vomiting and nausea.
The symptoms of Parkinsons disease are caused by a lack of dopamine, according to Medline Plus. These include tremors (shaking), stiffness, and slowness of movement. Levodopa works by being converted into dopamine by the brain.
How could levodopa improve cognitive function in Alzheimers disease patients?
So far, this research has been carried out on mice, which have been genetically modified to be able to have Alzheimers disease-like symptoms.
But it is promising, nonetheless. The studys authors found that taking levodopa induced the breakdown of the amyloid that builds up and forms plaques in the brain.
In mice, the dopamine release they experienced as a result of taking levodopa increased the amount of the enzyme that breaks down amyloid-beta specifically in the working memory center of the brain.
The Parkinsons disease drug therefore improved cognitive function in the mice. This suggests that the approach might be explored for patients with Alzheimers disease, reads the studys write-up on the Science website.
In similar news, viagra of all the drugs could help prevent vascular dementia by increasing blood flow to the brain. Anything that improves blood flow to the brain, even if it achieves this indirectly, is a preventive against vascular dementia. Good to know!
And it’s not only in Alzheimer’s disease research that scientists are making headway. Researchers recently developed a new type of blood test that can “predict” the onset of Parkinson’s disease by up to seven years.
