Aug 18 : Tel Aviv University researchers have developed a drug that acts through the nasal passage and dissolve plaques associated with Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases.

It is known that plaque formation causes the onslaught of neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and other neurological disorders, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and it was hard to develop drugs that could pass through the highly selective blood-brain barrier.

The idea of sending a treatment through the nasal passage was a logical one since Alzheimer’s plaques first appear in the olfactory bulb. That’s why one of the early symptoms of the much-dreaded disease is loss of smell.

As part of the study, Prof. Beka Solomon and colleagues administered a harmless bacterial virus known as a ‘filamentous phage’ through the nasal passage in mice, to test this hypothesis.

The phage reached to the brain of mice, where it locked onto plaques associated with Alzheimer’s and dissolved them.

The study found that mice, which had exhibited Alzheimer’s symptoms, regained their sense of smell and demonstrated memory improvement. After one year of treatment, they had 80 percent fewer plaques than untreated mice.

“Phages dissolve plaque. The phages are going into the brain, they do their work, and then the body gets rid of them,” Solomon said.

The findings of the study were presented at the meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Canada. (ANI)

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