Statins can protect nerve cells from damage in the brain of Alzheimer's disease patients and prevent the loss of memory capacity that normally occurs after nerve cell death. Photo Credit: RanbaxyJune 22, 2009, (Sawf News) - Statins, the cholesterol lowering drugs, can also protect nerve cells against damage which we know to occur in the brain of Alzheimer's disease patients.
How nerve cells die in Alzheimer's disease is complex but nerve cells eventually die because they are strongly overstimulated, a process called excitotoxicity.
In animal experiments conducted in the laboratory of Professor Ulrich Eisel, Department of Molecular Neurobiology, University of Groningen, Amalia Dolga, PhD, of the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, and colleagues overstimulated such nerve cells. They clearly demonstrated that treatment with a statin called Lovastatin could prevent the death of nerve cells under these conditions.
The statins not only prevented cells from dying but also prevented the loss of memory capacity that normally occurs after such cell death. In a previous study Dolga had showed that these statins stimulate the protective capacity of tumor necrosis factor, which is a key player in the brain's immune response.
Dolga has demonstrated in animal experiments that this tumor necrosis factor has a strong beneficial effect on nerve cells and can protect nerve cells against death. A widely prescribed drug like statins can activate this protective pathway revealing strong beneficial effect.
The study results are published in the June issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
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