Portsmouth university study looks at treatment of aging and damaged brains

The university, working with others in Zurich and Lyon, have identified drugs that could be developed to rejuvenate and repair the ageing brain.

Professor Arthur Butt, one of the senior authors of the paper, from the University of Portsmouth’s school of pharmacy and biomedical sciences, called the study a promising step in the right direction.

‘There is a major research drive to find new treatments aimed at rejuvenating the ageing brain and repairing the brain,’ he said.

‘We are hopeful these first steps will lead to something useful in the future. At the very least, we now have a list of drugs we can use to begin to unlock some of the underlying changes in the ageing brain and in regeneration.’

The research provides new insights into the mechanisms of neural development and repair, which can be exploited to develop new strategies for treatment.

It also identifies new drugs – already approved for clinical use – whose therapeutic potential for brain injury repair can now be explored.

The paper was published in the PLOS Biology journal.