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Reversing learning impairments in Down Syndrome patients
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Increasing the amount of norepinephrine reverses learning disabilities in a mouse model of Down Syndrome, researchers from researchers reported November 18th in Science Translational Medicine.
Down Syndrome, the most common cause of mental retardation, is caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21. Having an extra copy of the hundreds of genes contained with in chromosome 21 changes how the brain develops, leading to mild to severe learning disabilities.
Researchers, led by neurobiologist Ahmed Salehi of Stanford University, studied a genetically-modified strain of mice with three copies of the genes contained within the human chromosome 21. When the brains of these mice were examined under a microscope degeneration was evidence in the locus coeruleus, a region at the base of brain responsible for production of the norepinephrine, which promotes memory and learning in the hippocampus region of the brain.
The genetically-modified mice were given drugs that boost norepinephrine levels and subjected to a memory test a few hours later. Without the drugs they performed very poorly, but were as successful as regular mice after receiving the drugs.
This development has important implications for the use of cognitive-enhancing drugs to treat Down Syndrome patients. "5 years ago I never would have believed we would be looking at this kind of fundamental therapy for Down syndrome" says Roger Reeves, a geneticist at Johns Hopkins University. [Science]
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