Stopping TBI-Related Brain Degeneration

A drug that blocks overproduction of molecules that cause brain inflammation after traumatic brain injury (TBI) may offer hope to those who have experienced severe head trauma. Researchers from the University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging in Lexington conducted a study in mice that suggests that treatment with the drug may interrupt the process that links head injury with later development of degenerative brain diseases, such as Alzheimer disease.

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The drug, known as MW151, was given to mice 1 week after TBI. After 3 weeks of treatment, those mice no longer showed learning and memory problems, unlike the mice that did not receive MW151, the researchers said.

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More than a million people in the U.S. seek treatment for TBI each year, and the impact of earlier onset of dementia in such a large number of people is “simply unthinkable,” according to Linda Van Eldik, PhD, director of the Sanders-Brown Center and the developer of the drug. The study findings, she says, “could have a large impact both socially and economically.”

Sources
Webster SJ, Van Eldik LJ, Watterson DM, Bachstetter AD. J Neurosci. 2015;35(16):6554-6569.
doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0291-15.2015.

Dawahare L. Researchers see promise in treatment to reduce incidence of dementia after traumatic brain injury. UKNOW, University of Kentucky News. April 23, 2015. http://uknow.uky.edu/content/researchers-see-promise-treatment-reduce-incidence-dementia-after-traumatic-brain-injury. Accessed May 19, 2015.