Alzheimer's Disease, Dementia can be Prevented by Antidepressant: Study

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Taking a drug originally manufactured as an antidepressant could help Alzheimer's and dementia patients. Researchers were able to discover its effects after conducting a study in mice's proteasomes.

The study, which is published in the Nature Medicine, was conducted by neuroscientist from the Columbia University Medical Center led by Karen E. Duff, PhD. The researchers experimented with the antidepressant called rolipram in mice and discovered that it resulted in the lowering of the toxic proteins that attacks the brain. It also helped limit any damage caused by such attacks, thus possibly preventing and decreasing neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's.

"We have shown for the first time that it's possible to use a drug to activate this disposal system in neurons and effectively slow down disease," said Duff in the study, per Eurekalert. "This has the potential to open up new avenues of treatment for Alzheimer's and many other neurodegenerative diseases."

Researchers explained that the brain cells have to regularly clear out damaged proteins to be able to function in a healthy manner. The clearing out is relegated to the proteasome, which is also known as the brain's garbage disposal. It's shaped like a cylinder that grinds worn out proteins. For people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases, the proteins only clog up the neurons because the proteasome isn't functioning properly.

Checking their hypothesis in mice, researchers were able to see that it was actually possible for rolipram to physically alter the function of the proteasome and improve its activity. In the past, scientists were already able to prove that the antidepressant drug actually worked to sharpen memory in mice, but the latest study's findings about modification and improve brain activities were additional discoveries, per Daily Mail.

"This study in mice appears to show that the drug, rolipram - which was first developed to treat depression - can restart the waste disposal system in brain cells and flush out the toxic clumps. This prevented memory problems in the mice studied, but only in those that showed signs of the early stages of Alzheimer's disease," stated Dr. James Pickett, per Alzheimer's Society.

The study could help experts come up with newer ways to help and treat people with dementia, but further tests must be needed in order to know how effective and safe this will be for people. Rolipram is still not clinically recommended because of its known side effects, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorder and Stroke.

"The suggestion is not that rolipram should immediately go into the clinic but that drugs with mechanisms similar to rolipram should be investigated further," said study author Natura Myeku in the same report.