Can stroke drug cut Alzheimer’s risk? Human tests next

A drug used to improve blood flow to the brain may also help improve learning and memory and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, scientists say. The point has been effectively made using rats, but human testing is still to be conducted.

The drug, branded as Fasudil, has been used for more than 10 years to help protect the brain in stroke patients by dilating blood vessels when blood flow is curtailed.

Now, a team of psychologists, geneticists and neuroscientists at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and Arizona State University, say that hydroxyfasudil, the active form of the parent drug Fasudil, improved spatial learning and working memory in middle-aged rats when negotiating a complicated maze.

The findings, reported in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience, suggest that hydroxyfasudil may influence similar cognitive processes in humans involving the hippocampus, a part of the brain that has been shown to deteriorate in patients with age-related disorders.

“If Fasudil proves to be safe and effective in enhancing learning and memory, it could represent a viable new option for the prophylactic treatment of disorders with a cognitive decline component. This could include diseases like Alzheimer’s as well as general age-related impairment. In short, it may be a new pharmaceutical weapon that could be used even before the occurrence of symptoms,” said Dr Matthew Huentelman, a TGen investigator.

Huentelman noted that the findings prove nothing about the human use of the drug, adding that clinical trials are now being considered in the areas of cognitive impairment and dementia. Still, these findings supports the scientific quest for a substance that could treat progressive cognitive impairment, cushion the impact of aging, or even enhance learning and memory throughout one’s life span, the scientists report.