Researchers used a mouse model to test insulin's effect on memory problems
In a file photo, a medical assistant holds an insulin pen administered to diabetes patients Photo: AFP
Washington: Insulin delivered high up in the nasal cavity goes to affected areas of brain and helps improve memory, claims a new study that may lead to new treatments for Alzheimer's and similar forms of dementia. "Before this study, there was very little evidence of how insulin gets into the brain and where it goes," said William Banks, University of Washington (UW) professor of internal medicine and geriatrics."We showed that insulin goes to areas where we hoped it would go," said Banks, principal investigator of the study.
Importantly, researchers also found that insulin does not go into the bloodstream when delivered intranasally, a major concern in the medical community because it would lower blood sugar levels. Additionally, repeated doses increased insulin's efficacy in aiding memory.
"This is one of those studies where everything is coming together," Banks said of the potential of hormones like insulin to help those suffering from diseases like Alzheimer's that affect memory function. Researchers in the study used a mouse model developed in the early 1990s that is normal when young but by "mouse middle age" (8-12 months) has severe learning and memory problems. In the object recognition test, a test that depends on the mouse's natural curiosity for new things, old mice do not remember whether objects they are presented to play with are new or old. After a single dose of intranasal insulin, however, they can remember which objects they have seen before.
The researchers noted that Alzheimer's disease and other, similar forms of dementia have become one of the most severe socioeconomic and medical burdens impacting modern society. The findings were published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
( Source : PTI )
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