The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7478 p555
17 November 2007

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Low-dose antihypertensive drugs could be future AD therapy

Valsartan has been shown to reduce one of the neurological changes known to contribute to cognitive deterioration in Alzheimer's disease (AD) in a recent animal study (Journal of Clinical Investigation 2007;117:3393).

Researchers screened 55 antihypertensive medicines for AD-modifying properties, using primary cortico-hippocampal neuron cultures generated from AD mouse models. They found that seven candidate medicines — propranolol, carvedilol, valsartan, losartan, nicardipine, amiloride and hydralazine — significantly reduced AD-type beta-amyloid protein accumulation, and these were then tested in vitro.

Of the candidates, valsartan alone was shown to attenuate conversion of the beta-amyloid peptides into high molecular weight oligomeric peptides — a mechanism that contributes to AD.

Furthermore, the investigators say that valsartan reduced cognitive impairment in AD mice treated with the drug at half the usual hypertension dose.