Diabetes is a disease that is sweeping across the globe; so many people have been diagnosed with diabetes. Just in America alone, more than 25 million people have diabetes.
While diabetes has no cure, more drugs have shown a great improvement when it comes to the disease. One of those drugs is called Metformin and it is helping with more than just diabetes. Metformin has also shown great side effects as well, brain cell growth. This particular drug supports the growth of new neurons in the brain.
When studied, the results of Metformin were seen to make mice smarter than they were before, before the drug was administered. The result of the study has brought a great amount of hope the therapies that are designed to help to repair the brain.
Lead author of the study, Freda Miller of University of Toronto-affiliated Hospital for Sick Children said, “The discovery is an important step toward therapies that aim to repair the brain not by introducing new stem cells but rather by spurring those that are already present into action, says the study’s lead author.”
The drug is safe for the use of children who have been diagnosed with diabetes, which makes it a great alternative medication to helping children who are suffering a health issue that deals with the brain.
Recent research by Miller’s team laid out the groundwork for the recent study known as aPKC-CBP, which is well-known for its role in telling neural stem cells where and when to distinguish into mature neurons. The same pathway, aPKC-CBP is important for the metabolic effects of Metformin in liver cells.
Miller says, “We put two and two together.”
It was believed that if Metformin activated CBP in the liver, then it could possibly do that for neural stem cells of the brain and stimulate brain repair. To connect the two, a study was administered to mice. The mice began taking Metformin, which showed an increase in the birth of new neurons.
So far, there is no major evidence to see if this popular drug works in humans but it is very clear that mice are getting brain boosts with it. There is a great hope that Metformin will be a great cure where Alzheimer’s disease is concerned.
Miller says, “ It had been thought those improvements were the result of better diabetes control, but it now appears that Metformin may improve Alzheimer’s symptoms by enhancing brain repair.
Researchers hope that Metformin might be a huge help in curing brain issues that are related to cancer, trauma and even Alzheimer’s disease in the near future.