Sex-Specific Alzheimer's Treatment Could Benefit Males Over Females

A study in Science Signaling characterized an Alzheimer's disease treatment as effective in male mice and ineffective in female mice, reports EurekAlert . "The research involved assessing the memory function in female and male Alzheimer's mice after they were treated with a drug that selectively blocks a receptor to regulate memory and learning," said the University of Ottawa's Khaled Abdelrahman. "We then assessed the recovery of memory deficits after treatment and how it is different between sexes. We also examined whether the binding of a toxic AB peptide to this receptor is different between male and female mouse and human brain." The researchers discovered the treatment effected disease reversal in male mice, but not in female mice. "Importantly, it defines a previously unknown differences in the biophysical properties of an important receptor in the brain that regulates memory and learning," Abdelrahman noted.