United States: As per the new research, Alzheimer’s disease has a potential cure via a drug that has been in use for decades.
More about the finding
Scientists have discovered that the drug that is used to induce labor in pregnant women could also help in clearing waste from the brain, which renders it dysfunctional in people.
Hence, Alzheimer’s, as well as other dementias, is also pronounced as a ‘dirty brain’ disease, as when the disposal system slows down, toxic waste starts piling up inside the brain, congesting and damaging its vital and otherwise healthy tissues, as Daily Mail reported.
Drugs to restore brain function
According to Dr Douglas Kelley, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Rochester, who is the study’s lead, applying drugs can cause muscle contraction and also helps restore a few of those functions.
Such drugs, used in delivering over a million pregnancies per annum, could be administered as a pill, IV, or applied as a topical for USD 561.
Dr Kelley added, “This research shows that restoring cervical lymph vessel function can substantially rescue the slower removal of waste from the brain associated with age,” as Daily Mail reported.
“Moreover, this was accomplished with a drug already being used clinically, offering a potential treatment strategy,” he added.
More about the study
The study findings are published in the journal Nature Aging; it oversaw a series of complex tunnels and pumps, which are used by the brain to emit waste, known as the glymphatic system.
The system performs by pumping out the fluid over the brain’s tissue, thereby eliminating old cells and proteins in the system, which could even harm neurons.