A new study finds that ibuprofen significantly reduces inflammation and amyloid plaques in an animal model of Alzheimer1s disease, and may someday help prevent the disease in humans.
Alzheimer1s disease (AD), a severe form of dementia, affects an estimated 4 million Americans. AD causes formation of plaques and tangles, abnormal brain structures which precede the start of symptoms. Currently, AD therapies may partially slow but do not stop progression. There is no proven method for prevention or treatment.
3Ibuprofen and similar drugs may control not only the inflammatory response to the plaque, but the number of plaques,2 says the report1s lead author, Gregory Cole, Ph.D., of the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Sepulveda, CA and the University of California at Los Angeles. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Alzheimer1s Association, appears in the August 1 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.
3This study clearly demonstrates that ibuprofen can reduce the deposition of amyloid in the mouse model,2 says M. Flint Beal, M.D., chair of neurology at New York1s Cornell Medical College. 3This provides further evidence that this approach may be useful in preventing AD in patients.2
In the study, Cole's team continuously fed chow containing ibuprofen to 10-month-old AD mouse models for six months. The researchers found significant reductions both in inflammatory cells and number and size of degenerating nerve processes. Surprisingly, ibuprofen actually reduced the number of plaques.
The research suggests that anti-inflammatories, including ibuprofen, might help prevent AD if taken early. In humans, plaques take roughly 20 years to develop before memory deficits and other clinical symptoms appear. Therefore, significantly reducing the number of lesions with ibuprofen might delay the disease by about a decade. Because after age 65, the risk of developing the disease doubles with every 5 years of advancing age, an average 10-year delay in onset would prevent 75 percent of the cases, according to Cole.
This research was performed because of 20 population studies suggesting that anti-inflammatory drugs may reduce AD risk from 60 percent and 75 percent. In these studies, the average ibuprofen dose was about 800 milligrams per day. However, anyone now choosing to use over the counter anti-inflammatory drugs chronically should consult their physicians about potential side effects.
Cole1s co-authors include UCLA1s Sally Frautschy, Ph.D., and Karen Hsiao-Ashe, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Minnesota. All are members of the Society for Neuroscience, an organization of more than 27,000 basic scientists and clinicians who study the brain and nervous system. Cole can be reached at 818-891-7711, ext. 9949. The Society publishes The Journal of Neuroscience.