New Drug Found to Reverse Effects of Alzheimer’s Disease

Photo: Tam Warner Minton /flickr/ cc by-sa

• “AD” means Alzheimer’s disease.
  • AD refers to a dementia that causes memory and behavioral problems. Usually progresses with age.
• Synaptic clustering is an integral neuroplastic mechanism that enhances synaptic strength and increases overall neural cicuits.
• Riluzole is used as a glutamate modulator to increase dendritic spine-clustering. This is done by regulating glutamate transport to prevent overflow into extrasynaptic space, or space outside the cell. 
• Glutamate transporters such as the excitatory amino acid transporter 2 (EAAT2) helps transport glutamate in the brain. This transporter however decreases with aging. 
• Riluzole can increase EAAT2 glutamate transporter by collecting overflowed glutamate, thereby increasing glutamate uptake and improving cognitive function.
• Recent studies show that riluzole could become a novel treatment for age-induced, cognitive decline, and AD. 
• Read more about it in the journal Nature.