Anti-Epilepsy Drugs Could Treat Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases

Miami, FL (AHN) – Researchers in the United States say that drugs designed to treat epilepsy could also be effective in treating neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The researchers, with Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., said in a statement that neurons in the brain were protected after they were treated with anti-epileptic drugs, known as T-type calcium-channel blockers.

The researchers based their work on the fact that calcium signaling pathways are essential to the survival of neurons in the brain. But as people age, calcium homeostasis in the brain can be disrupted, oftentimes leading to cognitive and functional decline, the researchers said.

The researchers said that both T-type and L-type calcium-channel blockers protected neurons tested in the laboratory. The findings were significant, the researchers said in a statement, because there are currently no effective medications available to treat age-related neurodegenerative diseases.

The study appears in the BioMed Central journal Molecular Neurodegeneration.