In a new study from the University of Barcelona, researchers found a new drug that could shed light on the development of future strategies against Alzheimer’s disease.
They found the compound LSL60101 improved the cognitive deficit and the biomarkers related to the disease.
Alzheimer’s is a neurodegenerative disease without a cure yet. Despite the efforts, many initiatives in medical chemistry to find future drugs to treat it have failed.
In the study, the team reported the synthesis of a new family of compounds with high affinity and selectivity for I2 imidazoline receptors, altered in the brain of patients with Alzheimer’s.
Nowadays, the function of the I2-IR receptors under physiological conditions is unknown. However, researchers know these are altered in some neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s.
Apart from fighting the formation of amyloid-beta plaques or neurofibrillary tangles, acting on the neuroinflammation mechanisms could be a suitable therapeutic strategy to stop the progression of such a complex disease like Alzheimer’s.
The effects of LSL60101 in laboratory animals prove to be more beneficial than those from donepezil, one of the most commercialized drugs for Alzheimer’s treatments.
The researchers found the new compound created changes in oxidative stress markers and in neuroinflammation makers, one of the main dysfunctions present in most neurodegenerative diseases.
In particular, the drug reduced the number of amyloid-beta plaques and the levels of this altered protein in the brain of the treated animals.
It also reduced the tau protein, another important biomarker in the progression of the diseases.
The team also found that the SL60101-donepezil combined therapy is more efficient in some biomarkers of the disease.
In the future, they will focus on the link between I2 imidazoline receptors and Alzheimer’s and other diseases.
If you care about Alzheimer’s and dementia, please read studies about walking patterns may help determine specific dementia types and findings of unstable blood pressure may mean big dementia risk.
For more information about dementia and your health, please see recent studies about 2 minutes of exercise may reduce your dementia risk and results showing that hearing aids linked to lower risks of dementia, depression, falls.
The study findings are published in the European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry and British Journal Pharmacology. One author of the study is Carmen Escolano.
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