Ibuprofen for the prevention of parkinsonism?
Ibuprofen reduces the risk of developing Parkinson's diseaseAlexey Timoshenko, GZT.RU
Ibuprofen, a common analgesic, reduces the risk of developing Parkinson's disease.
This is the conclusion reached by American doctors.
The results of the study of doctors from the Harvard School of Public Health (Harvard School of Public Health) were told in Toronto at the 62nd Annual Congress of the American Neurological Society. The number of people who took part in the survey deserves special mention: doctors analyzed the condition of 136474 people.
Ibuprofen Ibuprofen, sold under the brand name nurofen, is an anti–inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic.
Due to the relatively low number of contraindications (stomach ulcer, asthma, third trimester of pregnancy, kidney disease) and side effects, this drug has become available in many countries (including Russia) without a doctor's prescription.
The mechanism of action of ibuprofen is to block the synthesis of prostaglandins, substances that cause the development of the inflammatory process. However, since prostaglandins themselves are involved in many processes inside the body, and drug molecules can interact with different substances, it was impossible to predict in advance all the properties of the drug.
The power of statistics Most of the effects of a particular drug are detected even before the moment when the first volunteer swallows an experimental pill, or the drug gets inside the human body in some other way.
Experiments on cell cultures and calculations on supercomputers, a series of tests on animals – the first clinical trials imply that scientists already know the reaction of the body in general terms.
During the first phase of clinical trials, the safety of the drug is checked, at the second stage its effectiveness is investigated, at the third stage the drug is tested in several clinics at once. From now on, if everyone is satisfied with the results, the medicine goes to pharmacies. Or to clinics, if we are talking about a potent substance that cannot be released for open sale even by prescription.
But the research of the drug after the start of its sale does not stop. Moreover, thanks to the large number of patients, it becomes possible to identify rare or delayed effects – from dangerous combinations (aspirin for flu can cause Rey's syndrome, a condition fraught with even coma) to, on the contrary, the ability to reduce the risk of developing some other disease, not at all the one against which the drug was developed.
The most famous example of a drug whose properties were discovered after the start of sales is thalidomide. Originally released as a sleeping pill, it caused birth defects in children whose mothers took thalidomide during pregnancy. And even later, after the scandal and the ban of thalidomide, it turned out that it allows treating leprosy: naturally, it was prescribed only simultaneously with reliable contraceptives.
Study The participants of the large-scale study were initially interviewed on the topic of which anti-inflammatory drugs they take.
Moreover, the doctors focused on non-hormonal drugs: aspirin, ibuprofen and acetaminophen, known under the brand name paracetamol. Six years later, scientists found that 293 people had Parkinson's disease – and among those who regularly took ibuprofen, the proportion of cases was lower. Factors such as smoking, age and the amount of coffee consumed (previously it was shown that coffee reduces the risk of another neurodegenerative disease – Alzheimer's disease) were, of course, taken into account. According to scientists, the effect they found really indicates the properties of ibuprofen. And it is him, and not aspirin or paracetamol.
Should I take ibuprofen now? The question is controversial, and the scientists themselves say, rather, that now they have to figure out exactly how this drug reduces the risk of developing Parkinson's disease. With it, dopamine cells producing a neurotransmitter (a substance necessary for the transmission of signals between cells) die in the brain. Studying the interaction of ibuprofen with cells at the molecular level may make it possible to create a more reliable and effective preventive remedy.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru24.02.2010