Alzheimer's Society Comment On The Use Of Epilepsy Drugs To Treat Alzheimer's

Main Category: Alzheimer's / Dementia
Also Included In: Epilepsy
Article Date: 29 Oct 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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Epilepsy drugs could be developed as a treatment for neurodegenerative diseases according to research published in the journal Molecular Neurodegeneration.

The study found that nerve cells lived longer when treated with T-type calcium-channel blockers, which are commonly used to treat epilepsy.

'This study is interesting since other research has shown that anti-convulsant drugs reduce the tangles of proteins linked to Alzheimer's disease. There are many advantages to researching drugs which are already used to treat other conditions as they have already been through safety checks meaning they could be available to people more quickly.

'However this study used nerve cells grown in a laboratory rather than using animal models which means that this avenue of research is still in the very early stages. Further research is needed to investigate whether this increased survival of cells could have an impact on the Alzheimer's disease process.'

Professor Clive Ballard
Director of Research

Source
Alzheimer's Society