14 DAY TRIAL // Speaking at a recent conference of the American Physiological Society, a team of researchers detailed their work testing the effectiveness of a novel compound against memory loss and oxidative stress associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
This neurodegenerative disease accounts for 60 to 70% of dementia cases. In the US alone, the Food and Drug Administration estimates there are 3.5 million people diagnosed with this condition, with another 473,000 expected to develop the disorder by the end of the year.
Although there are drugs designed to fight the disease, specialists say the problem is that these chemical cocktails are designed to mask symptoms rather than try and reverse damage to the brain or keep the condition from progressing.
A new player in the game
The drug described at the American Physiological Society is called IRL-1620. It is essentially a chemical compound designed to stimulate so-called endothelin B receptors, in turn known to be involved in brain development.
When laboratory rats displaying Alzheimer’s disease symptoms were administered IRL-1620 intravenously, their memory improved to a considerable extent, as did oxidative stress to their brain.
Besides, the rodents grew new blood vessels and neuronal cells in response to the compound, a sign that their brain was beginning to recover from the damage caused by the neurodegenerative disease.
“Intravenous injection with the drug improved memory deficit by 50 to 60% and reduced oxidative stress by 45 to 50%,” researcher Seema Briyal explained in a statement.
“We also found that treatment with IRL-1620 enhanced certain recovery processes within the AD-damaged brain, resulting in more new blood vessels and neuronal cells,” the specialist added.
Still a long way to go
IRL-1620 might have succeeded in addressing memory loss and oxidative stress in laboratory rats displaying Alzheimer’s disease symptoms, but that does not mean medical experts can go around administering this compound to human patients.
Further research is needed to determine whether IRL-1620 can be safely administered to people and, if so, whether it would have the same effect as it did when injected into rats.