Alzheimer’s disease, which affects 32 million people worldwide, is caused by brain beta-amyloid and tau protein accumulation.
Now, a pilot study conducted by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, has discovered that patients using the insomnia drug suvorexant had a decrease in two proteins linked to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
Potential Medications for Alzheimer’s Disease
A medicine that blocks orexin, the brain’s “awake” neurotransmitter, on tau and amyloid, two of the most critical proteins in Alzheimer’s disease, motivated the current study.
This medication was studied for its effects on Alzheimer’s-related proteins. Suvorexant for almorexant.
This two-night sleep research included 38 people aged 45–65 without cognitive impairment. The placebo, 10mg, and 20mg suvorexant groups were randomly assigned.
Everyone took medication and went to bed at nine. After administering the pills via a spinal tap, researchers collected cerebrospinal fluid samples twice daily for 36 hours. Samples were tested for tau and amyloid variation.
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Significant Decrease Observed
Some of the trial subjects were given the insomnia medication Suvorexant by Dr. Lucey and his team. All 38 participants were adults without any evidence of cognitive impairment and ranged in age from 45 to 65.Reliable Sourcing.
In this trial, people took either a low (10mg) dose, a high (20mg) dose, a placebo, or all three for a total of four nights.
Making use of spinal fluidReliable Data Obtained from a Spinal TapResearchers observed that those who took the high dose of suvorexant had a 10%-20% reduction in amyloid protein in their cerebrospinal fluid compared to those who took a placebo at regular intervals.
Furthermore, the amount of hyperphosphorylated tau protein in the cerebrospinal fluid of individuals who were given the higher dose of suvorexant decreased by 10% to 15% compared to that of those who were given the placebo.
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