MEMORY could be boosted in people with Down鈥檚 syndrome using a ginkgo tree extract.
People with Down鈥檚 syndrome often find it difficult to remember facts and events. This could be because neurons in the hippocampus 鈥� an important area of the brain for memory formation 鈥� are overinhibited by a neurotransmitter called GABA.
The ginkgo extract, called bilobalide, and another drug called pentylenetetrazole (PTZ), both block GABA. In a mouse model of Down鈥檚 syndrome, mice that drank PTZ in chocolate milk, or received an injection of bilobalide, once a day for 17 days did significantly better at memory tests, such as recognising which of two objects they had not seen before. The improvements lasted for up to three months after the mice stopped taking the drugs, suggesting that they had caused long-term changes in brain activity (Nature Neuroscience, DOI: 10.1038/nn1860).
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鈥淲ith time you鈥檙e teaching the brain to suppress the excessive inhibition in the hippocampus,鈥� says Craig Garner of Stanford University in California, who led the study. He says PTZ has the most immediate potential because it has already been rigorously tested in humans and can be taken orally.
