14 DAY TRIAL // A team of researchers from the University of Edinburgh found that a new experimental compound can improve memory and cognition in aging mice.
As people grow old they start forgetting things and this memory decline is generally accepted as a natural process that occurs to old people.
But forgetting to turn off the lights of not remembering where are the door keys is rather embarrassing and very annoying, even when it happens to young people, so the researchers started investigating this new compound with the hope that one day it could turn into a drug that could slow down the memory decline linked to aging.
They discovered that memory loss was associated with high levels of 'stress' hormones called glucocorticoids, that damaged the part of the brain that helps people remember.
These hormones are produced by an enzyme called 11beta-HSD1, that has been found to be more active in the brain as the years passed by.
During their research, the scientists discovered that a new synthetic compound selectively blocked 11beta-HSD1, and allowed experimental mice to complete a memory task called the Y maze.
The team has received support from a Wellcome Trust Seeding Drug Discovery award, and has managed to identify this possible candidate that they hope to take into human trials within one year.
It's not the first time that the 11beta-HSD1 enzyme causes trouble, as it has already been linked to several metabolic diseases, including diabetes and obesity, and similar drugs that block its activity outside of the brain are already in development.
Professor Jonathan Seckl from the University of Edinburgh, discovered the role of 11beta-HSD1 in the brain, and he says that “normal old mice often have marked deficits in learning and memory just like some elderly people.
“We found that life-long partial deficiency of 11beta-HSD1 prevented memory decline with aging.
“But we were very surprised to find that the blocking compound works quickly over a few days to improve memory in old mice suggesting it might be a good treatment for the already elderly.”
The positive effects on memory started showing after only 10 days of treatment.
Leading the drug development program are Professor Brian Walker and Dr Scott Webster from the University of Edinburgh.
“These results provide proof-of-concept that this class of drugs could be useful to treat age-related decline in memory,” Professor Walker added.
“We previously showed that carbenoxolone, an old drug that blocks multiple enzymes including 11beta-HSD1, improves memory in healthy elderly men and in patients with type 2 diabetes after just a month of treatment, so we are optimistic that our new compounds will be effective in humans.
“The next step is to conduct further studies with our preclinical candidate to prove that the compound is safe to take into clinical trials, hopefully within a year.”
Dr Rick Davis of the Wellcome Trust said that “developing drugs that can selectively inhibit this enzyme has been a challenge to the pharmaceutical industry for nearly 10 years.
“Advancing this compound towards clinical trials takes us a step closer to finding a drug that could have far reaching implications as the population ages.”
The study was supported by the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council (MRC), and the research has been published in the Journal of Neuroscience.