Resumen de Brains rejuvenated by asthma drug
Ludwig Aigner at Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg in Austria and his colleagues targeted a set of receptors in the brain that, when activated, trigger inflammation. These receptors are also thought to be involved in the birth of neurons. A drug called montelukast, regularly prescribed for asthma and allergic rhinitis, blocks these receptors, so Aigner and his colleagues tested it on young and old rats. The team used oral doses equivalent to those taken by people with asthma. By the end of their six-week drug regime, though, old animals performed as well as their younger companions. Old rats that had been given montelukast had 80 per cent less brain inflammation than old rats that hadn't been given the drug. They also had greater new neuron growth than untreated old rats--about 50 per cent of that seen in young rats, says Aigner. The team also found that the blood-brain barrier--which stops infectious agents reaching the brain but weakens with age--was stronger in treated old rats.
