PAMPLONA, Spain, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- A drug used in a type of hereditary metabolic disorder improved the memory of laboratory animals with Alzheimer's disease, researchers in Spain said.
Researchers of the Center for Applied Medical Research of the University of Navarra in Pamplona showed the drug sodium phenylbutyrate -- currently prescribed for patients with alterations in the urea cycle -- eases the fusion of proteins responsible for neuron connections, thus increasing the learning capacity of the mice involved.
Dr. Ana Garcia-Osta said these discoveries offer new, promising perspectives for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other related dementias.
"Cognitive deficit is associated with a loss of neuron connections. For the memory to develop, it is necessary for a series of cellular and molecular mechanisms to be activated," Garcia-Osta said in a statement.
"The interruption of these processes affects the capacity to assimilate and store new memories."
The research team said it is currently focused on discovering the acting mechanism in this drug. The drug is now clinically available and well tolerated, the confirmation of its therapeutic value in humans could be applied to Alzheimer's in a shorter period of time than other drugs being studied, Garcia-Osta said.
The findings are published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.
