Page 193 - The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss and Enhance Memory Power

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change the substance it produces at will. Occasionally, a hyperactive immune system can mistakenly
attack the body's own tissues, as happens in rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. On the flip side, a weak
immune system that does not destroy wayward cancerous cells can lead to malignant tumor
formation, as occurs in AIDS.

Inflammation in the Alzheimer's Brain

Within the brain, the immune system interacts closely with nerve cells in several regions and is
triggered in a variety of ways. The complement pathway (a sequence of enzymes/proteins) plays an
important role in the immune response, and an overactive complement response can damage
different areas of the brain. In patients with Alzheimer's disease, complement activation can trigger
the formation of amyloid protein that collects in clumps to make up the pathologic amyloid plaques.
Researchers are now studying anti-inflammatory agents that can block or inactivate complement in
the treatment of not only Alzheimer's disease, but also mild to moderate memory loss during the
aging process.

Types of Anti-inflammatory Agents

Anti-inflammatory medications are of two types: steroidal and nonsteroidal. It may seem odd that
steroids, which in high concentrations can damage the hippocampus, can be therapeutic for patients
with dementia. However, the fact that inflammation does occur in the brains of these patients
suggests that steroids, which have extremely powerful anti-inflammatory properties, may indeed be
effective treatments. Drs. Paul Aisen and Ken Davis at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York
certainly think so, and they recently completed a placebo-controlled clinical trial using prednisone, a
synthetic steroid, in Alzheimer's disease. However, the trial results were negative: prednisone
showed no advantage over placebo in these patients.

The other approach is to use nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) like
acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin), indomethacin (Indocin), or ibuprofen (Motrin). Acetaminophen
(Tylenol) has weak anti-inflammatory properties compared to aspirin, even though it has similar
pain-killing strength.