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New Drug Rapidly Repairs Age-Related Memory Loss, Improves Mood (newatlas.com)
A team of Canadian scientists has developed a fascinating new experimental drug that is purported to result in rapid improvements to both mood and memory following extensive animal testing. It's hoped the drug will move to human trials within the next two years. New Atlas reports: Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a key neurotransmitter, and when altered it can play a role in the development of everything from psychiatric conditions to cognitive degeneration. Benzodiazepines, such as Xanax or Valium, are a class of drugs well known to function by modulating the brain's GABA systems. This new research describes the development of several new molecules that are structurally based on benzodiazepines, but with small tweaks to enhance their ability to specifically target certain brain areas. The goal was to create a new therapeutic agent that can effectively combat age-related mood and memory alterations caused by disruptions in the GABA systems.
In animal tests the drug has been found to be remarkably effective, with old mice displaying rapid improvements in memory tests within an hour of administration, resulting in performance similar to that of young mice. Daily administration of the drug over two months was also seen to result in an actual structural regrowth of brain cells, returning their brains to a state that resembles a young animal. The new study was published in the journal Molecular Neuropsychiatry.
In animal tests the drug has been found to be remarkably effective, with old mice displaying rapid improvements in memory tests within an hour of administration, resulting in performance similar to that of young mice. Daily administration of the drug over two months was also seen to result in an actual structural regrowth of brain cells, returning their brains to a state that resembles a young animal. The new study was published in the journal Molecular Neuropsychiatry.
Here's the paper abstract:
Altered gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) function is consistently reported in psychiatric disorders, normal aging, and neurodegenerative disorders and reduced function of GABA interneurons is associated with both mood and cognitive symptoms. Benzodiazepines (BZ) have broad anxiolytic, but also sedative, anticonvulsant and amnesic effects, due to nonspecific GABA-A receptor (GABAA-R) targeting. Varying the profile of activity of BZs at GABAA-Rs is predicted to uncover additional therapeutic potential. We synthesized four novel imidazobenzodiazepine (IBZD) amide ligands and tested them for positive allosteric modulation at multiple α-GABAA-R (α-positive allosteric modulators), pharmacokinetic properties, as well as anxiolytic and antidepressant activities in adult mice. Efficacy at reversing stress-induced or age-related working memory deficits was assessed using a spontaneous alternation task. Diazepam (DZP) was used as a control. Three ligands (GL-II-73, GL-II-74, and GL-II-75) demonstrated adequate brain penetration and showed predictive anxiolytic and antidepressant efficacies. GL-II-73 and GL-II-75 significantly reversed stress-induced and age-related working memory deficits. In contrast, DZP displayed anxiolytic but no antidepressant effects or effects on working memory. We demonstrate distinct profiles of anxiolytic, antidepressant, and/or pro-cognitive activities of newly designed IBZD amide ligands, suggesting novel therapeutic potential for IBZD derivatives in depression and aging.
Bruce Perens.
This article is by a subset of the authors and seems to be about the same molecules.
Bruce Perens.
Canadians, they'll practically give it away and a US company will swoop in with a similar patent and gouge everyone while burying anyone who tries to make the low cost version.
https://med.stanford.edu/sbfnl...
Y Maze Spontaneous Alternation Test
Y Maze Spontaneous Alternation is a behavioral test for measuring the willingness of rodents to explore new environments. Rodents typically prefer to investigate a new arm of the maze rather than returning to one that was previously visited. Many parts of the brain--including the hippocampus, septum, basal forebrain, and prefrontal cortex--are involved in this task.
Testing occurs in a Y-shaped maze with three white, opaque plastic arms at a 120Â angle from each other. After introduction to the center of the maze, the animal is allowed to freely explore the three arms. Over the course of multiple arm entries, the subject should show a tendency to enter a less recently visited arm. The number of arm entries and the number of triads are recorded in order to calculate the percentage of alternation. An entry occurs when all four limbs are within the arm. This test is used to quantify cognitive deficits in transgenic strains of mice and evaluate novel chemical entities for their effects on cognition.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
and then you never hear about it again, i bet the government and the financial elite buy it and then make it disappear so nobody can use it except them, leaving the wider world to just do without
Because most of the "miracle drug discoveries" reported are miraculous cures for cancer. And they get reported as miraculous cures for cancer because some researcher found out it kills cancer cells in a Petri dish. Media get all hyped up, people get all worked up, we get news articles "we are ont the verge of curing cancer" and so on. Well, you know what also kills cancer cells in a Petri dish? Sulphuric acid. Cyanide. Lye. Strychnine. Surgical spirit. Arsenic oxide. And so on. Then, when you administer your new "miracle drug" to mice, it turns out that it not only kills cancer cells but normal cells as well, and that's how your "miracle drug" disappears.
You have to realize that killing cancer cells in a Petri dish is trivial, it's actually getting them to grow at all in a Petri dish that's hard, most human tissues (and cancers derived from them) won't even do that, they will only grow in an organism, with the blood supply, extracellular matrix and so on. So those cancer cells on a Petri dish are barely making it as it is, and it takes very little to push them over the edge. And the collateral damage to the liver is not a concern in a Petri dish too.So, next time you hear about a miracle cure for cancer just think "wow, they discovered another sulphuric acid" to put things in the right perspecive.
And I can already tell you how this particular drug will disappear: it's beznodiazepine-based and it targets GABA, so it'll probably work like all other drugs in this category: it's going to be addictive and it's going to create resistance. Meaning that, at first it will be great, but over time you'll need higher and higher doses of it to create the same effect, then even to just get back to normal. And at some point the "get back to normal" dose you're going to need is going to be higher than the liver can handle and it becomes toxic. And then you're screwed.
And think of it: if you were an evil villain controlling the pharmas and the government from the shadows wouldn't you WANT the proles addicted to some substance that only you can make, can charge whatever you want for, and that actually makes them WORSE off in the long run? Thank goodness there ain't no evil shadow man, and the drug is going to be tightly regulated and used only sparingly. *If* it turns out to work as well on humans as on rats, which is a yet another huge chasm that many potential drugs fall into.