Editor's Choice Main Category: Alzheimer's / Dementia Also Included In: Neurology / Neuroscience Article Date: 10 Aug 2012 - 9:00 PDT
Current ratings for: Epilepsy Drug Can Reverse Memory Loss In Alzheimer's Patients
5 (1 votes)
5 (1 votes)
The study, conducted by researchers at the Gladstone Institutes, also found that the drug, called levetiracetam, alleviates other Alzheimer's related impairments by suppressing abnormal brain activity. Levetiracetam is often prescribed to individuals who suffer from epilepsy.
At present, around 5.4 million people in the United States suffer from Alzheimer's, and this figure is expected to increase three fold by the year 2050.
Dr. Lennart Mucke, M.D., who directs neurological research at Gladstone, and is a professor of neurology and neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), with which Gladstone is affiliated, explained:
Essential brain functions, such as memory, need healthy activity in neuronal networks in order to work efficiently. However, Alzheimer's disease interferes with these brain networks, causing disruptions that can result in epileptic seizures.
Gladstone Postdoctoral Fellow Pascal Sanchez, Ph.D., explained: "But whether such neuronal-network disruptions also impair memory was unknown. So we screened seven FDA-approved anti-epileptic medications - including levetiracetam - in our Alzheimer's mouse model to see if minimizing these network disruptions could improve memory."
After administering the drug to mice, the team discovered that abnormal network activity in their brains decreased by 50% in less than 24 hours. After two weeks of treatment, the neurons' ability to communicate with each other also improved.
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Epilepsy Drug Can Reverse Memory Loss In Alzheimer's Patients