A sweet solution for Alzheimer's disease? ( McLaurin and colleagues tested them ...)

A sweet solution for Alzheimer's disease?

, McLaurin, and colleagues tested them in transgenic mice with human genes that predispose them to an Alzheimer's-like disease.

When the researchers treated these mice with scyllo-inositol, all of the animals' disease symptoms improved. Cognitive function was improved, amyloid plaques disappeared, inflammation declined, and the mice lived longer.

The scientists found that scyllo-inositol conferred these benefits not only if the mice were treated when they were very young and disease-free, but also if they were treated after the onset of disease.

As a model system, these mice "are pretty good, but they're not a perfect replica of the disease," St George-Hyslop said. The mice do not develop tau tangles, he explained, but they are prone to amyloid plaques, brain inflammation, cognitive disturbance, and early death, just like humans with Alzheimer's disease.

The researchers found that the scyllo-inositol worked better than the epi-inositol version. Scyllo-inositol produced more dramatic benefits overall, while epi-inositol worked only transiently and only when given before disease symptoms appeared.

Scyllo-inositol "is an exciting experimental therapy, but until it has actually been tested in humans, it should not be considered the cure for Alzheimer's disease," St George-Hyslop said. "There are many things that are very promising when done in animal models that turn out to either not work in humans or to have unexpected toxicity."

A public Canadian company called Transition Therapeutics has regulatory approval for clinical trials of scyllo-inositol in humans with Alzheimer's disease and started them about a week ago. St George-Hyslop has a small financial interest in the company.

St George-Hyslop and his colleagues are optimistic that scyllo-inositol will be less toxic to humans than some previous drug candidates for Alzheimer's disease. A vaccine designed to destroy amyloid â, for example, was first tested s
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Source:Howard Hughes Medical Institute

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( McLaurin and colleagues tested them ...)A sweet solution for Alzheimer's disease?