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Easter Island's Wonder Drug Could Make You Smarter

Easter Island is enchanting for many different reasons, but pharmaceutical innovation isn't the first one that springs to mind. Nevertheless, rapamycin, a drug found in the island's soil has become an object of researcher's fascination lately.

Easter Island is enchanting for many different reasons, but pharmaceutical innovation isn’t the first one that springs to mind. Nevertheless, rapamycin, a drug found in the island’s soil has become an object of researcher’s fascination lately. A new study from the University of Texas shows that doses of rapamycin improves learning in young mice and reverses the cognitive effects of aging in older ones. “We made the young ones learn, and remember what they learned, better than what is normal,” said assistant professor of physiology Veronica Galvan. “Among the older mice, the ones fed with a diet including rapamycin actually showed an improvement, negating the normal decline that you see in these functions with age.” In other words, it makes mice smarter, longer.

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Rapamycin is not a new drug. It’s been used for a few years to treat organ rejection in transplant patients, but researchers continue to find new uses for the substance. A couple of years ago, another team discovered that a rapamycin-enriched diet reversed some symptoms of Alzheimer’s in lab mice, giving them hope that it might have the same effects on human beings. What’s more is that prior to that research three separate teams of researchers found rapamycin actually extended the lives of mice by 28 to 38 percent. “We believe this is the first convincing evidence that the aging process can be slowed and lifespan can be extended by a drug therapy starting at an advanced age,” said Randy Strong, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Texas Health Science Center, at the time.

But the miracle drug hasn’t made its way to the pharmacy quite yet. Despite already having won FDA approval as an organ rejection treatment, the anti-aging and cognitive-boosting uses for rapamycin remain in the experimental stages. Part of the reason, it seems, is that rapamycin’s effects are not all positive. Unfortunately, rapamycin also strongly suppresses the immune system and weakens the body’s ability to stabilize blood sugar levels. In other words, it raises the risk of diabetes. That said, it might be worth it to a lot of people to trade a life encumbered by Alzheimer’s for one troubled due to diabetes. Especially if it’s 30 percent longer.

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