Study concludes that nicotine may prevent Alzheimer's disease

[thrackelsby]

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9610/22/nf...ers/index.html

Study concludes that nicotine may prevent Alzheimer's disease

[top]But chemist says 'I'm not going out and buy a pack of cigarettes'

October 22, 1996
Web posted at: 10:00 p.m. EDT From Correspondent Jeff Levine
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Smokers are statistically less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, researchers say. A new study published in a journal of the American Chemical Society Tuesday went even farther, suggesting that nicotine could actually prevent the brain-destroying disease.
The research, published in the journal Biochemistry, was partly funded by the Philip Morris Company.
At Case Western Reserve University, chemist Michael Zagorski created a laboratory model of the brain's chemistry, and found that when nicotine was mixed with key brain chemicals, it stopped early development of sheet-like structures in the brain.
Those structures could in turn become damaging beta amyloid plaque formations in the brain. The plaque formations are characteristic in Alzheimer's disease patients.
"Most of the work that's known is that they know what promotes formation of the plaque. But there's very few studies which have come out with things that inhibit formation of the plaque," Zagorski said.
Zagorski says we might prevent the ravages of Alzheimer's if we started taking a nicotine-like drug around age 40. However, he said, that didn't mean that he would advocate that people become smokers to prevent the disease.
"I'm not going to go out and buy a pack of cigarettes, or have any of my friends smoke to get nicotine," Zagorski said. "As I said, nicotine itself is too toxic. It's a drug."
The Alzheimer's Association noted that the research, although interesting, is very preliminary. A U.S. government scientist echoed the same sentiment.
"This particular study was done in a test tube. ...so we really don't know at this point how these particular findings relate to what is seen in Alzheimer's disease patients," said Neil Buckholtz, of the National Institute on Aging.
Researchers are also looking at other ways to use nicotine against Alzheimer's disease. For example, individuals might be able to use smoking cessation patches to slow the loss of memory. The idea is that a continuous dose of nicotine would stimulate key locations in the brain called receptors.
Doctors at Georgetown University don't think that using nicotine patches would stop the disease, but they are hopeful the treatment could slow its progress.
"Not only would all these people continue to interact with their families and live independently, but there'd be a significant financial impact of not having to admit these people to chronic-care facilities," said Georgetown's Dr. Mark Sale.
The Georgetown researchers say that the patch has proven very safe in a small study of Alzheimer's patients, since the patch is free of the toxic chemicals found in smoke. And because the nicotine is given in low doses, there is little risk of individuals becoming addicted to the drug.

I find this an extremely interesting idea, does anyone have any thoughts or further information on this topic?

[Felonious Skunk]

The irony here being that the most common nicotine-delivery devices will likely prevent you from becoming old enough to acquire Alzheimer's in the first place.