An old medication may help; immunization doesn’t; and exercise may be good — but just for general health.
Current treatments for Alzheimer disease (AD) involve medications that retard disease progression. The two major medications for cognitive symptoms are cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine, which acts on the NMDA receptor and glutamate system. One recent study of another type of intervention offers further hope; others reveal that hoped-for strategies do not work.
Dimebon, a nonselective antihistamine used in Russia for many years, weakly inhibits the NMDA signaling pathway, butyrylcholinesterase, and acetylcholinesterase; and provides neuroprotection (by inhibiting the opening of mitochondrial permeability transition pores). Preliminary preclinical and clinical data have suggested that dimebon may be effective for AD. In a multisite, man…
Reviewing Author
DisclosuresRoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions
Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)
DisclosuresRoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions
Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)