Diabetes medication helps against Alzheimer's

Study: Diabetes drug "metformin" is supposed to help against Alzheimer's. Scientists from Berlin have found out that the active ingredient protects the molecular genetics of brain cells and prevents them from dying off.

Berlin researchers have found that with the type II diabetes drug metformin also Alzheimer's diseases can be treated. The medicine that was originally used to combat diabetes can, according to Professor Dr. Susann Schweiger from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics protect brain cells and prevent their death.

She had come up with a bicycle, „Because of its mechanism of action, metformin should actually also work in Alzheimer's disease“, reported Prof. Susann Schweiger. The connection between sugar metabolism and the development of Alzheimer's has long been known in the art. Accordingly, the risk of a corresponding neurodegenerative disease is significantly increased for type II diabetics. Based on the idea of ​​Prof. Schweiger, gained in cycling, the expert, in collaboration with numerous European colleagues, has now been able to prove that metformin activates an enzyme in the brain that can prevent the death of brain cells in patients with Alzheimer's disease. In this way, the drug used in type II diabetes also seems to have a positive influence on the course of Alzheimer's disease, explained the expert.

Protection against Alzheimer's also in healthy people
With the support of international working groups, she has been able to prove that metformin has a protective function for brain cells not only in type II diabetics but also in healthy persons, explained Prof. Schweiger. So even a prophylactic administration seems quite possible. In addition, people who are already suffering from Alzheimer's could be treated with metformin in the future, the experts hope. If diagnosed early, it may be possible to stop the disease in its course and protect those affected from severe Alzheimer's disease, the researchers said. To further investigate the prophylactic and therapeutic applications, metformin will initially be tested in two different animal models, and then a clinical trial will be initiated within the next two to five years.

However, the prophylactic use of metformin in healthy people is not quite problematic. Although most side effects of the drug, such as diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, are rather harmless and occur only in the early stages of treatment, metformin can cause acidosis in the body of massive vomiting and persistent, severe diarrhea, especially in patients with kidney failure or in association with Cause anesthetic life-threatening lactic acidosis. This increases the lactate level in the blood with a simultaneous decrease in the blood pH, which can lead to acidosis (acidosis) of the blood and in extreme cases to a shock and failure of kidney function.

Nevertheless, the prospect of a prophylactic use of drugs against the particular form of dementia, especially for older people, gives reason for hope, because the risk of Alzheimer's disease increases with age. According to estimates of the health authorities, in Germany about 2 percent are affected by the 65-year-olds, by the 70-year-olds 3 percent, by the 75-year-olds 6 percent and by the 85-year-olds already about 20 percent. At the age of 90, according to the scientists around Prof. Schweiger about half of the people have Alzheimer's symptoms such as temporal and spatial disorientation, the loss of previous knowledge or skills learned and growing helplessness. In this case, those affected in the final stage of the disease are usually dependent on care around the clock. Despite various promising research results, there is no prospect of cure, and so prevention is the only method of counteracting the neurodegenerative disease so far.

Here also the results of Prof. Schweiger and colleagues, who hope to be able to prophylactically treat Alzheimer's disease with the help of metformin, set in. For many, a glimmer of hope is on the horizon, given the gloomy predictions that are being drawn by most experts regarding the increase in Alzheimer's disease over the next few decades. Because in the course of the demographic development, d. H. aging society, Alzheimer's disease in this country is expected to double by 2050, currently affecting around 700,000 people in Germany. (Fp)

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Picture credits: Harald Wanetschka