By Jackie Syrop | June 03, 2014
A new study in mice of the multiple sclerosis (MS) immunomodulator drug fingolimod (Gilenya) suggests the drug may be a new therapeutic target for a treatment of post-traumatic stress and other anxiety disorders.
In an online report in Nature Neuroscience, Sarah Spiegel, PhD, and colleagues at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, the researchers examined whether fingolimod would affect the acquisition and retention of fear memories, using immunodeficient SCID mice for the studies to eliminate confounding by the drug’s effect on lymphocyte trafficking.
In mice tested for “fear extinction,” the drug was able to boost the level of fear control. In the short term there was no difference in the rate of fear extinction between drug and placebo groups. However, the next day, the placebo-treated animals showed a return of fearfulness when exposed to the shock-related contexts and the fingolimod-treated mice did not, suggesting that extinction was preserved, the authors concluded. –
See more at: http://www.hcplive.com/articles/MS-Drug-Shows-Promise-in-Animal-Study-for-Treatment-of-PTSD#sthash.ka0HyrBV.dpuf
re: Fingolimod/Gilenya
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