Aspirin could lower the risk of Alzheimer's and even slow its progress in sufferers, a new study has found. In experiments on mice, even a low dose of the common over-the-counter pill destroyed the rogue proteins that kill neurons in the brain.
For years, scientists have been trying to work out how to activate cleaning cells in the brain to remove waste and potentially slow the disease.
Now, the team at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, have found the answer may lie in the already popular painkiller. They are hopeful the same results will be found in humans - identifying a new role for one of the most widely used medications in the world.
'At present, there is no effective treatment for preventing or halting the disease,' lead author Professor Kalipada Pahan, a neurologist at Rush, said.
'The major defining neuro-pathological features are deposition of extra-cellular senile plaques composed of toxic amyloid beta aggregates and formation of intra-cellular neuro-fibrillary tangles originated from the protein tau.'
Millions of people take a low dose of the 'wonder pill' to reduce their risk of developing dementia - as well as cancer and cardiovascular disease. It reduces inflammation - the bodily process that triggers most major life-threatening illnesses.
The new study found evidence that it could be used to clears amyloid beta from the hippocampus - gray matter that controls memory. The exact causes of Alzheimer's, and what makes the disease progress, are unknown.
But it's widely agreed that toxic build-up of amyloid beta - especially within the hippocampus - is a leading mechanism.
Dr Pahan's study is a continuation of previous research that found a link between aspirin and reduced risk and prevalence of Alzheimer's.
