Stanford Ds Research Supports Possible Treatment to Improve Cognition

[Guest guest]

My name is Christy and I have a 12 month old son with Ds. I want to share the following information with your group. Last weekend I flew to New York City and watched the premiere of the documentary, "Changing a Mind." Let me say, my reaction to the film was "WOW!" The potential of the research being done at Garner Lab at Stanford is absolutely amazing. If you have not looked at Garner Lab's website lately - you need to! Dr. Garner just posted A LOT of new information last week. Be sure to read through every page, every link - it is quite interesting.

Please read the excerpt (from Garner Lab's website) I've pasted at the end of this email. It discusses how learning is impaired for individuals with Ds. In a nutshell, he has demonstrated in the Ds mouse model that the inhibitory communication in the brains of Ds mice is acting like a "parking brake" by being overactive and inhibiting learning. By turning it down (they are using a drug called PTZ in the lab - currently not available in the US) learning can better occur. It is based on this research that people are now giving their kids Ginkgo Biloba. It is the Bilobalide in the Ginkgo Biloba that works to "release the parking brake" ever so slightly. Dr. Garner is hopeful that the PTZ will have a much BETTER effect than the Ginkgo Biloba on the inhibitory pathways. Dr. Cody Cashion formulated the CMP treatment featured in the documentary. It is important to note that the BEST RESULTS occurred in the film when the Ginkgo Biloba was used IN CONJUNCTION with Prozac. According to the research referenced on the changingmindsfoundation.com Research section, Prozac has been proven to have a neurogenesis effect on the brain (produce new neurons). This is an important component of the Protocol since it has been shown by autopsy that by six months of age, babies with Down syndrome have ONLY HALF of the number of neurons in the brain as a typical child. In the lab, when Prozac was given to mice their neuron count DOUBLED in 24 days (this article is also posted in the Research section on changingmindsfoundation.com ). So basically, by increasing the neuron count AND "releasing the parking brake" on the inhibitory pathway - the kids in the film made tremendous progress.

I was able to meet with Dr. Garner and discuss his current research for over an hour after the film. He truly has a passion to find an effective treatment to improve cognition in individuals with Down syndrome. I'm sure that many of you have the same questions I did, but here is the main one - WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO GET THIS NEW DRUG THROUGH CLINICAL TRIAL AND TO MARKET? The answer is very simple - Money - approximately $3 - $5 million. This may sound like a lot, but really - it's not! There are 350,000 people with Ds living in the US. If each family of each person with Ds gave just $15 DIRECTLY to Dr. Garner's Ds Lab fund that would be over $5 million!! He could go forward with the process of conducting a proper clinical trial without having to jump through time consuming hoops to raise the money through alternate sources.

The Changing Minds Foundation is also raising money to go toward Dr. Garner's research. Don't take my word for how impressive this research is - I'm not a scientist, I'm just a mom like you. Read all of the information for yourself at http://garnerlab.stanford.edu/ . Watch the 3 minute preview on www.changingmindsfoundation.org . Read the research posted on www.changingmindsfoundation.com . Buy the DVD directly from their website for $35. Host a showing of the DVD at a local church or school as a fund raiser for this vital research!

I would like to encourage each of you to do your part right now and write a check for at least $15 and send it to: Attn: Deborah Stinchfield, Stanford University, Office of Medical Development, 2700 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025. Make your check payable to Stanford University and BE SURE TO INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING CODE in the memo section (DHAYQ) - this designates your gift for the Garner Down Syndrome Fund.

"Studies in the Garner lab have confirmed that in this mouse model of Down syndrome communication between two types of brain cells—excitatory and inhibitory neurons—is out of balance. There is too much inhibitory communication, which prevents learning from properly taking place. It's as if somebody forgot to release the parking break—the car just won't go.The Garner lab further investigated whether inhibitory communication between neurons could somehow be reduced in this mouse model. For this purpose, Down syndrome mice and normal mice were tested on two tasks that were designed to assess learning and memory. As expected, the Down syndrome mice performed significantly worse than the normal mice.

The Down syndrome mice were then treated for several weeks with different drugs, which are known to reduce inhibitory communication. These drugs work by partially blocking a receptor located on the neurons called GABA A receptor. Blocking these receptors should reduce inhibitory communication, thereby increasing excitatory communication. When tested on the learning and memory tasks, the Down syndrome mice now performed almost as well as the normal mice. Even several weeks after drug treatment had been terminated, these mice still performed better.

These results confirm that too much inhibitory communication between neurons indeed prevents learning from taking place in this mouse model of Down syndrome. Reducing this inhibition with specific drugs restores the balance between inhibitory and excitatory neurons so that learning can take place."