Drug to improve intellect may soon be reality

Toronto, February 25: Does your child find it hard learning his lessons? The culprit is a protein, the absence of which in the brain causes learning disabilities. Canadian researchers have made a breakthrough that might pave the way for treating memory relapses or improving intellect.

Roderick McInnes of Toronto University and Michael Salter of the Sick Kids hospital have spotted a protein called Neto 1 that performs key function in the synapses of the brain.

Synapses are specialized point through which neurons signal to each other about brain activity, enabling it to learn things. Neto1 activates NMDA in the brain cells to become receptors that lobby those signals and let them pass through neurons.

To test the importance of the protein, researchers genetically engineered mice that were missing the gene that makes Neto1 protein. These mice were then compared with normal mice for their cognitive abilities.

Though the mutated mice did not show any behavioral or physical problem, they spent time learning new skills. They repeatedly failed the test in which they were made to swim through a water maze to reach the safety platform, as opposed to the normal mice that did better in the task with each try.

The researchers deduced that altered mice had fewer NMDA receptors in their brain cells, making it hard for them to adapt the skill.

Then they gave the Neto1-lacking mice a drug that is being clinically tested on Alzheimer’s patients. The mice successfully responded to the drug and their learning defects were restored to normal.

The drugs called ampakines, however, did not increase the number of NMDA receptors but improved their function.

Michael Salter stated, “We have a new player in the game. Neto1 was never considered to be involved in how nerve cells communicate with one another. Now we found out that not only is it involved ... it's critical."

The researchers thus concluded that “This is the first report of a pharmacological rescue of an NMDAR impairment, and consequently, our results extend the principle that in vertebrates, an inherited defect in synaptic plasticity and spatial learning can be corrected in the adult."

Co-researcher McInnes, acknowledging this as a breakthrough for helping children born with low intellect, said, “Our findings and other research over the past five years suggest that the situation is more hopeful. It is no longer a fantasy to think that drug treatment might, in the future, be available for such patients."

However, since the test has not been verified in humans yet, it is difficult to say if the drug would work in their case as well. It is yet to pass through phase II trial to check its complete effectiveness and side effects in Alzheimer’s patients.