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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3 sold in health foods stores, may help prevent memory loss associated with Alzheimers disease.
Researchers at the University of California at Irvine added high doses of nicotinamide to drinking water fed to mice to study its effects on memory. Some of the mice had Alzheimers, while other mice studied were healthy. After a series of short and long term memory tests including water mazes and object-recognition tasks researchers found that Alzheimers mice who were treated with nicotinamide performed at the same level as healthy mice, while untreated Alzheimers mice experienced memory loss. They also found nicotinamide slightly enhanced the cognitive abilities of healthy mice.
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Nicotinamide works by lowering levels of a protein called phosphorylated tau that leads to the development of tangles, one of two brain lesions associated with Alzheimers disease. The vitamin also was shown to strengthen the scaffolding along which information travels in the brain cells.
The same researchers who conducted the study in mice are now conducting a clinical trial to test the effects of nicotinamide in humans. Clinical trials have already shown the vitamin to be useful for people with diabetes complications and certain skin conditions.
SOURCE: Journal of Neuroscience, published online Nov. 5, 2008
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