At the first annual CMF conference we discussed Prozac. This seems to be the scariest drug for most parents. Today I wanted to discuss the timing of research, and Prozac is an excellent example.
In April of 2006 a study was published "Fluoxetine Rescues Deficient Neurogenesis in Hippocampus of the Ts65Dn Mouse Model for Down Syndrome". The study gave fluoxetine (which is generic Prozac) to the DS mouse and then examined the memory and learning area of the brain (which is called the hippocampus) 3 weeks later. Within 3 weeks, the brain had formed twice the number of nerves than before. Notice the title of the study, "...Rescues Deficient Neurogenesis...". This tells us that we know people with Down syndrome are naturally deficient at growing new neurons on their own, without some kind of help.
Back to timing. A second study, that looked at learning and memory in the Down syndrome mouse, concluded that after being treated with Prozac the mice had a "complete recovery of memory performance". Aren't these the kind of conclusions we want? Do you know when that study was published?
June of 2010
It took 4 years from one study to the next! Wow !!
Do we believe these studies and move forward and treat with a drug that has been on the market for 30 years, or do we wait 4 more years?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Is this the second article that you were refering to on neurogenesis "Early Pharmacotherapy Restores Neurogenesis and Cognitive Performance in the Ts65Dn Mouse Model for Down Syndrome" from the Journal of Neuroscience, from Bologna Italy? It very interesting, the defective proliferation of the hippocampal dentate gyrus was completely restored with fluoxetine, it restored the expression of 5-HT1A, (seratonin) receptors and BDNF, complete recovery for memory performance. I am going to see our pediatrician on Thursday will show her this article and the ones from Stanford, we want to start Gregory on fluoxetine soon, he is the little baby that was at the CMF conference. Thanks for your work, Christine DeSilva
ReplyDelete