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"Viagra" could reduce multiple sclerosis symptoms "Viagra" could reduce multiple sclerosis symptoms
05/2011 - Medicine and Health. IBB researchers have discovered that "Viagra" drastically reduces multiple sclerosis
symptoms in animal models with the disease. The research demonstrates that a practically complete recovery occurs
in 50% of the animals after eight days of treatment. Researchers are confident that clinical trials soon will be carried
out in patients.
The team of researchers from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, leadered by Dr. Agustina Garcia (center). Author: Antonio Zamora.
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona researchers have discovered that "Viagra" drastically reduces multiple sclerosis symptomsin animal models with the disease. The research, published in Acta Neuropathologica, demonstrates that a practically completerecovery occurs in 50% of the animals after eight days of treatment. Researchers are confident that clinical trials soon willbe carried out in patients given that the drug is well tolerated and has been used to treat sexual dysfunction in some multiplesclerosis patients.
Multiple sclerosis is the most common chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system and one of the main causesof disability among young adults. The disease is caused by the presence of multiple focuses of demyelination (loss of myelinsheaths around the axons, affecting the ability of neurons to communicate) and neurodegeneration in different areas of thecentral nervous system. There is currently no cure for the disease, although some drugs have proven effective in fightingsymptoms and preventing it from progressing.
A research team from the UAB Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine directed by Dr Agustina García, in collaboration withthe research team directed by Dr Juan Hidalgo from the UAB Institute of Neurosciences, has studied the effects of a treatmentusing sildenafil, sold as "Viagra", in an animal model of multiple sclerosis known as experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis(EAE). Researchers demonstrated that a daily treatment with sildenafil after disease onset quickly reduced clinical signs, witha practically complete recovery in 50% of the cases after eight days of treatment. Scientists observed how the drug reducedthe infiltration of inflammatory cells into the white matter of the spinal cord, thus reducing damage to the nerve cell's axon andfacilitating myelin repair.
Sidenafil, together with tadalafil ("Cialis") and vardenafil ("Levitra"), form part of a group of vasodilator drugs known asphosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitors, used in the treatment of erectile dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Recent studies in animal models of central nervous system pathologies already pointed to the fact that in addition tovasodilation, these drugs could contain other neuroprotective actions and suggest their usefulness as possible treatmentsof both acute (cerebrovascular stroke) and chronic (Alzheimer's) neuropathologies. In fact, in a research published in 2010in the Journal of Neurochemistry, the same research group from UAB demonstrated that one of these inhibitors reducedneuroinflammation and neuronal damage in animal models of traumatic brain injury.
Departament de Biologia Cel·lular, de Fisiologia i d'Immunologia Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina "Sildenafil (Viagra) ameliorates clinical symptoms and neuropathology in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis". Pifarré et al. ActaNeuropathol (2011) 121:499–508 2011 Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona - Tots els drets reservats
"Viagra" could reduce multiple sclerosis symptoms 2011 Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona - Tots els drets reservats

Source: http://www.uab.es/PDF/PDF_1306480140723_en.pdf