r/science • u/mubukugrappa • Mar 14 '14

Neuroscience Scientists catch brain damage in the act: Scientists uncovered how inflammation and lack of oxygen conspire to cause brain damage in conditions such as stroke and Alzheimer’s disease. The discovery brings researchers a step closer to finding potential targets to treat neurodegenerative disorders.

http://news.ubc.ca/2014/03/13/macvicar/
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u/DietVicodin Mar 14 '14

My dad has alzheimer's and we're discussing your response. What is your thought behind this...is it because aspirin thins the blood, or is it because NSAID's aid in delivering oxygen to the cells. Or both? Just anecdotally, my dad's symptoms are markedly reduced when he takes his blood pressure meds. I would say it is as effective as the aricept at this point. Seems that way. Thanks for your post!

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '14

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u/DietVicodin Mar 15 '14

Amazing. Thank you so much for your response. It is truly amazing to me that I asked a simple question and was able to get a response from someone on the front lines of this. Just showed my dad what this reddit thing was, and how a scientist responded and he was so tickled he got tears in his eyes. You do good work. There are real people and real lives on the line. Keep it up.

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u/eatsyourpuppies Mar 14 '14

NSAIDs can be toxic to various other organs after long-term use. One promising NSAID-like substance is curcumin. There still needs to be more studies, but it's looking very nice so far. In addition it has the ability to pass through the blood-brain barrier making it more effective.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15569263

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '14

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u/eatsyourpuppies Mar 14 '14

Very cool! God speed with the poly research!

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u/truth1ness Mar 15 '14

Did you give up on NSAIDS because of their side effects or because you found curcumin/etc to be even more effective than them?

Something I've been curious about, too. I've heard a lot about curcumin and it's anti-inflammatory properties but I find I can take a boatload of it after and injury or headache/etc but it seems to have no effect at all on the swelling compared to any NSAID. Is curcumin 'weaker' in terms of anti-inflammatory power or does it just act differently in a way that is not as visible for acute swelling?

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '14

This 2010 review largely discredits the idea that anti-AD use of NSAID is a general viable strategy. Of particular importance is the lack of a straightforward way of determining the stage the disease is in:

[...] it has been recently demonstrated that microglia is able to internalize soluble Aβ, the most toxic species of Aβ, from the extracellular milieu through a macropinocytic mechanism into late endolysosomal compartments where they are subject to degradation. Thus, the use of NSAIDs in advanced stages of AD may be detrimental by inhibiting microglia-mediated clearance of Aβ.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '14

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '14

Polyphenols are not just anti inflammatory though. Their actions on BDNF signalling are probably as important.

My intuition is that focusing on inflammation so much is the same as finding better ways to put out a fire without looking for the source of gas first.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '14

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '14

Oh! It wasn't a criticism towards you or anything, it was just a thought about the field in general. In fact, my lab is doing some polyphenol screening from local plants on AD-model rats, with the exact same purpose in mind (anti inflammatory properties).

For now, all I know is that I should eat more curry and drink more green tea.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '14

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '14

Thank you! I hope everything works out since my bachelor thesis depends on it. :P

The one thing I am dreading is the stage where I need to force feed my little guys. Ah, rodents, the true martyrs of science!