A study from the University of Ottawa has found that specific Alzheimer’s treatment is effective in both male and non-female mice, providing a window into the biology of the disease and the effectiveness of targeted treatments.
The paper, ‘AB oligomers induce pathophysiological mGluR5 signaling in Alzheimer’s disease model mice in a sex-selective manner’, was published in Science Mark Journal clarifies that the underlying mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease are fundamentally different between men and women in terms of one particular treatment.
The study was led by the first author Dr. Khaled Abdelrahman with lead author Dr. Stephen Ferguson, both from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine Faculty of Medicine and Brain and Psychiatric Research Institute.
Dr. Abdelrahman shared some insights into the findings.
What exactly did you do for study?
“The research included an evaluation of memory function in female and male Alzheimer’s mice after being treated with a drug that blocks receptors to regulate memory and learning. We then evaluated recovering from memory deficits after treatment and how it differs between sexes.We also examined whether Ab; toxic binding to this receptor is different between male and female mice and human brain. “(Note: Find AB peptide in the brain of an Alzheimer’s patient and is a symptom of the disease.)
What did you find?
“We showed that at least one treatment of Alzheimer’s disease was promisingly effective in reversing the disease in male mice but was not able to do so in female mice. This will have a significant impact on drug detection. future design and clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease. “
How do these decisions translate to people?
“We used post-mortem brain strain from male and female donors to validate our findings. The benefit to humans is that these selective differences may be relevant to many drugs on the market. or in clinical trial stages. “
What is the potential impact of this discovery?
“We need to be careful when planning future clinical trials because many drug candidates for each sex have different or different results; not all drugs will work. for men working with women, and vice versa.It also varies as clinical trial data should be assessed and disaggregated by gender.Importantly, it explains an unknown difference previously in biochemical properties of an important receptor in the brain that regulates memory and learning. “
What did you think of these decisions?
“As a pharmacist, I have seen many patients in the habit of struggling with Alzheimer’s disease and ineffective treatments. This led me to make an effort to understand the mechanisms that lead to disease for more therapeutic approaches. best to undertake. “
Source:
Magazine Reference:
Abd-Elrahman, KS, et al. (2020) Aβ oligomers induce pathophysiological mGluR5 signaling in Alzheimer’s disease model mice in a sex-selective manner. Science Mark. doi.org/10.1126/scisignal.abd2494.