Aspirin revealed its promising potential to the scientists who say that low dose of this common medicine helps brain cells to detox, Such a surprising effect of aspirin is able to help clear away a toxic protein molecule at the core of Alzheimer’s, Journal of Neuroscience reported.
A low-dose aspirin stimulates the formation of lysosomes – tiny sacs in cells filled with digestive enzymes that help break down and clear away unwanted or harmful material, the recent researchers revealed. According to Professor Kalipada Pahan, from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, the common painkiller stimulated cellular machinery that acts as a waste disposal system to keep the brain “clean”.
Genetically engineered mice given the drug had reduced levels of a key hallmark of Alzheimer’s in their brains, sticky clumps of beta-amyloid peptide. Impaired clearance of the protein building block from the brain is thought to be one of the main causes of the disease.
Meanwhile, American scientists believe in aspirin’s potential, the British experts urged caution, saying that work is scientifically interesting, but it is at very early stages to make a final decision about the detoxifying activity of aspirin and its ability to prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
Professor Tara Spires-Jones, deputy director of the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, suggests that the amyloid reducing effects of aspirin were shown in cells in a dish and in a single mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease with relatively few mice per group.
“Further, the study did not show whether aspirin helped the brain function in this disease model. More work will need to be done in order to know whether low-dose aspirin could help prevent or treat Alzheimer’s,”
Spires-Jones explained and added that more work must be done in order to know whether low-dose aspirin could help prevent or treat Alzheimer’s.
