Scientists investigate new drug for: Alzheimer, Parkinson, multiple sclerosis and traumatic brain injury

July 24, 2012
________________________________________________________

Scientists at the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University and Kentucky University from United States are studying a new drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and traumatic brain injuries by reducing cerebral inflammation.

The research was published in the Journal of Neuroscience. ‘In treating brain swelling, or neuro inflammation, the new class of drugs, MW151 and MW189 offers a totally different therapeutic approach for treating Alzheimer’s disease, whose treatment, until now, was to prevent the development of plaques of beta -amyloid in the brain ‘.

The study identified “the optimal time for therapeutic administration of the drug, taken orally and readily crosses the blood-brain barrier ‘.

Co-author Martin Watterson, Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Biological Chemistry at Feinberg, explained, “This new drug could be used among other medications to prevent the development of Alzheimer’s disease.”

Research in animals proved, ‘the drug reduced the neurological damage caused by a traumatic brain injury, and inhibited the development of multiple sclerosis. In these diseases, like Alzheimer’s disease, studies show that the duration of therapy is critical.”

MW151 and MW189 drugs prevent the overproduction of harmful proteins in the brain called proinflammatory cytokines, the overproduction that contributes to the development of many degenerative neurological disease, and nerve damage caused by head trauma or stroke.