I feel like for the past 8 years I've been regularly hearing about some new surgery or drug that substantially cures or halts Alzheimer... But is anything coming of it?
The trouble is, until it has passed a double-blind test, it's basically hearsay. We have those tests because even good researchers working with seemingly promising drugs can be fooled by optimism or other biases.
Catchy title. Wake me up when the first clinical trials show some positive results. Myriads of wonderdrugs for mice have sadly been found to be ineffective in humans.
That said, if it works for us, I'll be among the first to try it, as soon as it's availlable.
"Wake me up" is unfortunately the right expression. Not only do some drugs react differently in humans but until it really will reach the patient many years will pass I suppose.
This findings build on the team's 2007 breakthrough in which mice with symptoms of Alzheimer's disease regained long-term memories and the ability to learn.
This is amazing news if it's really true. Like many here, my grandmother is suffering from dementia/alzheimer's, and she remembers none of her grandchildren, and occasionally she'll remember her some of her children. It would be nice if she could remember me again.
About a month ago, I presented their 2007 paper in a seminar class, so I'm familiar with their work. The biochemistry of how HDAC inhibitors work is over my head, but the neuroscience is quite intriguing and promising.
Here's what they say about HDAC inhibitors in the abstract of the 2007 paper: "Moreover, increased histone acetylation by inhibitors of histone deacetylases induced sprouting of dendrites, an increased number of synapses, and
reinstated learning behaviour and access to long-term memories".
That paper showed that the effects of HDAC inhibitors were similar to environmental enrichment in recovering and preventing the loss of memories. The interesting part is that they do not prevent neuronal loss by brain atrophy; memory improves in the mice despite severe atrophy.
If you're interested, the article I'm referring to is: Fischer et al. Recovery of learning and memory is associated with chromatin remodelling. Nature (2007) vol. 447 (7141) pp. 178.
Edit: Their experiments used mice, not rats. Oops.
I haven't read this paper, but I have read the 2007 paper they mention in the article. In that study, the mice were trained in a Morris water maze task. Then, different groups are tested either immediately, 3 hours later, 24 hours later or 2 weeks later.
Some in each group were given a histone deacetylase inhibitor, and they were compared to controls that were not. All these mice were transgenic knockout mice. When put on a diet containing doxycycline, their brains begin to atrophy. (Edit: all the experimental mice were on this diet)
Good. This could alleviate a lot of human suffering if it's real.
Now is the time to start the discussion: what if these drugs are also capable of increasing neuroplasticity above baseline in otherwise healthy adults?
Though not a critique of medicine (or of what could potentially be an amazing treatment), it always saddens me when I read the headline of a medical breakthrough only to find that we really have no idea how it works. Some day, we'll understand the architecture of the brain. That day is still not today.
I had to do a bit of research recently and I was surprised to find that dementia is mostly a misnomer. Dementia is a set of symptons, not an underlying cause. The most common causes of dementia is Alzheimer's. And as cruel as Alzheimer's may be, the other non-curable disorders are adamantly not better.
