pte20240624001 Medical/Health, Research/Development
According to University of Iowa scientists, the energy supply to the brain is greatly improved
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Dementia trial with a puzzle game: Researchers see potential treatment path (Photo: uiowa.edu) |
Iowa City (pte001/24.06.2024/06:00)
Drugs such as terazosin, doxazosin and albuzosin are safe for prostate enlargement, researchers say. University of Iowa and from a certain type of dementia. Because they improve energy supply to brain cells. In particular, this concerns Lewy body dementia (DLP), which accounts for a quarter of all neurodegenerative diseases. A study of more than 643,000 men showed that those taking these drugs had a 40 percent reduced risk of developing DLB.
Also protects against Parkinson’s disease
This finding may be surprising, but it fits with the team’s previous work at the school’s medical school, which linked the same drugs to the preventive effect of another neurodegenerative disease – Parkinson’s disease.
The researchers, led by Jacob Zimmering, hypothesize that a specific side effect of the drug is targeting biological damage in dementia and Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Broad mechanism
“Diseases like DLB, Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease are very disabling and we don’t have good treatment options to affect the progression of the disease. We can treat the symptoms, but we can’t really fight these diseases. Very exciting. The point of this study is that the same neuropathology as in Parkinson’s disease. We found the effect,” Simmering said.
If there is a broader protective mechanism, the scientist believes that these drugs can be used to treat or prevent other neurodegenerative diseases. The team tracked the men they observed since they started taking the drugs. On average it takes three years.
Because all participants were selected to take drugs to treat the same condition, the researchers reasoned that the men might be more similar to begin with. To further narrow the differences between the groups, the researchers also matched the men on characteristics such as age, the year they started treatment, and other medical conditions they had before starting treatment. The result was remarkable.
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