Study: Vitamin C Helps Alzheimer Drugs Enter Brain

Adding vitamin C molecules to drugs used in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease may help the drugs enter the brain more easily, according to researchers at the University of Ferrara in Italy.

"We've opened a door for a promising new way to improve delivery of drugs into the brain using a natural nutrient, ascorbic acid," said Stefano Manfredini, professor of pharmaceutical chemistry and lead researcher.

A major problem in treating Alzheimer's disease and other brain disorders is the difficulty of getting drugs to the central nervous system due to the blood brain barrier, which regulates the movement of chemicals into the brain. The effectiveness of some drugs is compromised because of this mechanism.

Researchers found that even drugs that could not cross the barrier at all could cross when attached to a vitamin C molecule, according to their report in the Web edition of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

In one study of the process, researchers used a group of mice that had been chemically induced to have seizures. Investigators first injected the normal molecule of nipecotic acid into the mice, a drug that cannot easily enter the blood brain barrier in its natural form. The drug had no effect on the mice at all until a vitamin C modified version was used, delaying the convulsions and showing improved performance of the drug.

Researchers are hopeful that their findings will lead to safer and more effective drugs that target the brain.

Other sources: American Chemical Society