Age-Related Memory Loss Reversed in Monkeys | Hacker News Reader

Age-Related Memory Loss Reversed in Monkeys

technologyreview.com

52 pointsrberger8 comments

Great, now I'll be able to still write top notch code when I'm 90!

Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2005 Oct;182(2):205-13. Epub 2005 Oct 19.

Lack of effects of guanfacine on executive and memory functions in healthy male volunteers. Müller U, Clark L, Lam ML, Moore RM, Murphy CL, Richmond NK, Sandhu RS, Wilkins IA, Menon DK, Sahakian BJ, Robbins TW.

Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK. um207@cam.ac.uk

RATIONALE: Guanfacine is an alpha2-adrenergic receptor agonist that has been shown to have beneficial effects on working memory and attentional functions in monkeys and in patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to further investigate the cognitive-enhancing properties of guanfacine using an established battery of tasks measuring executive and memory functions. METHODS: Sixty healthy male volunteers were randomised into three groups. Cognitive testing was performed from +2 to +4 h after double-blind administration of a single oral dose of 1 or 2 mg of guanfacine or placebo. RESULTS: Systolic blood pressure was significantly reduced by both doses of guanfacine at the end of the testing session. There were no statistically significant effects on any of the cognitive measures. Two trend effects were observed with poorer performance on digit span backward and slower 'Go' reaction times after guanfacine. CONCLUSION: This study found no improvement of prefrontal memory or executive functions after guanfacine. Negative effects on blood pressure and trend effects on digit span backward and go reaction time indicate a mild sedative effect of guanfacine at these doses, possibly via mechanisms of autoreceptor down-regulation.

PMID: 16078088 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16078088

I am not an expert, nor a doctor, but the article being discussed said that Guanfacine causes sedation (and Wikipedia says it is indeed currently prescribed sometimes as a sleep aid) and that users might have to build up a tolerance to the drug to minimize its sedative effects.

Can't see more than the summary of the study you pasted, but it seems to suggest one single dose was tested per person. Wouldn't this maximise the sedative penalty?

From anecdotal evidence I've heard from people taking this stuff, it doesn't help much with memory/cognitive ability, but does help control impulsive urges which can act as a hindrance to cognitive and memory tasks.

If you are not suffering from overactive impulses, this may not do much to help you function and may in fact hinder you by providing an additional sedative effect.

Isn't this basically the start of the new planet of the apes movie? Could be bad news...

I was just about to type this. Yes it is exactly the premise of the new movie.

We read here that they can make PFC neurons more excitable (they show firing rates in the figures) by basically blocking potassium channels, which is like saying the sun is bright. We see the rescued firing rates but we don't see any behavioral memory performance results. I wonder how nature justified "working memory" in the title, given that we don't even know if delay activity is a network or cell-intrinsic mechanism yet.

This article is dumb. There is literally a new drug coming out in four days that may be able to help with alzheimer's:

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/news-ticker/2011/jul/1...

CBD binds to the CB2 receptors, which are mostly in the body and not the brain. This means that it won't directly reduce brain inflammation. However, because it's still an anti-inflammatory, there should still be some cognitive benefits. (And studies done in mice have already confirmed this.)

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