Early Pharmacotherapy????

An outstanding piece of evidence emerged June of this year. Early treatment of the Down syndrome mouse "restores" cognitive performance. They didn't say "invents" cognitive performance. They say RESTORES. This implies that it is there waiting to be unleashed. And in fact, that is exactly what we observe with the children treated with the CMF protocol. The medicine unveils the awesome person inside.

The medicine used in this study was prozac (fluoxetine generic name). The nerves don't grow or develop properly in the memory area of the brain in Down syndrome. With early treatment with prozac, these DS mice had more normal brain development and had a complete recovery of memory task performance.

All I can say is WOW! We should be dancing on the rooftops and down on our knees thanking God. How easy is this. A known drug with 30 year history and cheap (as low as $3/ month at Walmart).
Watch John (5yo) in action who has been treated with prozac since he was 2 years old:
http://changingmindsfoundation.org/documents/videoblog.html

 Here is an abstract of the study mentioned above:

J Neurosci. 2010 Jun 30;30(26):8769-79.

Early pharmacotherapy restores neurogenesis and cognitive performance in the Ts65Dn mouse model for Down syndrome.
Bianchi P, Ciani E, Guidi S, Trazzi S, Felice D, Grossi G, Fernandez M, Giuliani A, Calzà L, Bartesaghi R.
Department of Human and General Physiology, University of Bologna, I-40126 Bologna, Italy.

Abstract
Down syndrome (DS) is a genetic pathology characterized by intellectual disability and brain hypotrophy. Widespread neurogenesis impairment characterizes the fetal and neonatal DS brain, strongly suggesting that this defect may be a major determinant of mental retardation. Our goal was to establish, in a mouse model for DS, whether early pharmacotherapy improves neurogenesis and cognitive behavior. Neonate Ts65Dn mice were treated from postnatal day (P) 3 to P15 with fluoxetine, an antidepressant that inhibits serotonin (5-HT) reuptake and increases proliferation in the adult Ts65Dn mouse (Clark et al., 2006). On P15, they received a BrdU injection and were killed after either 2 h or 1 month. Results showed that P15 Ts65Dn mice had notably defective proliferation in the hippocampal dentate gyrus, subventricular zone, striatum, and neocortex and that proliferation was completely rescued by fluoxetine. In the hippocampus of untreated P15 Ts65Dn mice, we found normal 5-HT levels but a lower expression of 5-HT1A receptors and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). In Ts65Dn mice, fluoxetine treatment restored the expression of 5-HT1A receptors and BDNF. One month after cessation of treatment, there were more surviving cells in the dentate gyrus of Ts65Dn mice, more cells with a neuronal phenotype, more proliferating precursors, and more granule cells. These animals were tested for contextual fear conditioning, a hippocampus-dependent memory task, and exhibited a complete recovery of memory performance. Results show that early pharmacotherapy with a drug usable by humans can correct neurogenesis and behavioral impairment in a model for DS.



PMID: 20592198 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

ADHA, ADD, NE, Letters, letters and more letters

Last November there were headlines that read, "A Fix for Down Syndrome Brains" and " Norepinephrine Boosts Memory in Down Syndrome Mouse Mode" and "Norepinephrine could Reverse Down syndrome".

This was and is fantastic. Looking at the study out of Stanford University, Salahi et al. found that increasing the neurotransmitter, norepinephrine (NE), increased contextual learning. They gave the DS mouse a drug called L-DOPS, which increases norepinephrine and epinephrine. This drug is used in kidney dialysis patients for hypotension. So, it increases blood pressure. What an interesting choice. One would not readily use that drug in children or adults with Down syndrome.

But there are a whole group of drugs that one would use in children and adults. They have been used for 50 years in thousands of children, and they also increase Norepinephrine. What kind of drugs could these be?

ADD/ADHD medications!

Ritalin was introduced in 1960. It was not known at that time how the drug worked, but it is now. It increases the levels of Norepinephrine! According to the Stanford study published November 2009, the Down syndrome mouse model benefitted from increased NE. So, maybe all children and adults with DS would benefit from ADHD meds? Not that they are all diagnosed ADD/ADHD, but this may be the next layer of the brain 'onion'.

F.Y.I. --- Other well known ADD/ADHD drugs are Concerta, Vivance, Focalin XR, Metadate, and Desoxyn

FANTASTIC! Another way to help Down syndrome

Fantastic!!!! A study from Stanford University was released this week showing that when certain chemicals were increased to a more normal level in the brains of the Down Syndrome mouse, the mouse learned better. The idea that medicine can improve function is the entire theory behind the Changing Minds protocol.

They increased a chemical called norepinephrine which is a neurotransmittor. A neurotransmittor is a chemical that literally jumps across from the end of one nerve to the beginning of another nerve.

The study gave the Down syndrome mouse a drug called droxidopa which is an orally active norepinephrine precursor used for the treatment of orthostatic hypotension. Hypotension is abnormally low blood pressure.

Increasing norepinephrine is a known treatment for other situations. It is used in Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, depression and hypotension. Norepinephrine cannot cross into the brain directly so medicines are used to increase it indirectly.

Increasing norepinephrine in the hippocampus (area of memory and learning in the brain) enhanced cognition in the Down syndrome mouse. So why not use a medicine that increases norepinephrine AND has been used in children for 50 years???? That medicine would be ADHD meds, such as Focalin, Concerta, etc. Why use a medicine that you would have to start from scratch with clinical trials?

We at Changing Minds Foundation have seen real improvement adding ADHD medication for our children with Down syndrome. What this study does, is back up with laboratory findings what we already have seen with the children on the Changing Minds protocol.