Epilepsy drug may treat Alzheimer's

A drug that is commonly used to treat epilepsy may help clear the plaques in the brain that are associated with Alzheimer’s disease, new research indicates. The plaques are known to lead to the progressive death of nerve cells in the brain that are linked to many forms of dementia.

A team of UK researchers have shown that sodium valproate, which is sold here as the anti-seizure drug Epilim, reactivates the body’s own defences against a small protein called amyloid beta peptide – the main component of the brain plaques characteristic in Alzheimer’s. The development of the disease is widely believed to be caused by the gradual accumulation in the brain of this peptide which is toxic to nerve cells.

“The fact that we’ve been able to show that a well-established, safe and relatively inexpensive drug could help treat Alzheimer’s is an extremely exciting development. We hope colleagues will be able to progress this research with clinical trials in the near future,” said lead researcher, Prof Tony Turner of the University of Leeds.

Around 40,000 people in Ireland have dementia, the most common form of which is Alzheimer’s disease. There is currently no cure.

Sodium valproate meanwhile has been used for many years to suppress seizures in people with epilepsy.

For more information on Alzheimer’s, see… http://www.irishhealth.com/clin/alzheim/index.html
For more information on epilepsy, see… http://www.irishhealth.com/clin/epilepsy/index.html

[Posted: Tue 09/12/2008]