Antabuse may help revive vision in people with progressive blinding disorders (Cheap disulfiram can help retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration - “quite dramatic”)

Medical Xpress / University of California - Berkeley / Science Advances ^ | Mar. 18, 2022 | Michael Telias et al

[ConservativeMind]

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that a drug once widely used to wean alcoholics off of drinking helps to improve sight in mice with retinal degeneration.

The drug may revive sight in humans with the inherited disease retinitis pigmentosa (RP), and perhaps in other vision disorders, including age-related macular degeneration.

A group of scientists led by Richard Kramer, UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology, had previously shown that a chemical—retinoic acid—is produced when light-sensing cells in the retina, called rods and cones, gradually die off. This chemical causes hyperactivity in retinal ganglion cells, which ordinarily send visual information to the brain. The hyperactivity interferes with their encoding and transfer of information, obscuring vision.

He realized, however, that the drug disulfiram—also called Antabuse— inhibits not only enzymes involved in the body's ability to degrade alcohol, but also enzymes that make retinoic acid. In new experiments, Kramer and collaborator Michael Goard, who directs a lab at UC Santa Barbara (UCSB), discovered that treatment with disulfiram decreased the production of retinoic acid and made nearly-blind mice much better at detecting images displayed on a computer screen.

"Treated mice really see better than mice without the drugs. These particular mice could barely detect images at all at this late stage of degeneration. I think that that's quite dramatic," Kramer said.

[ConservativeMind]

You would not want to drink alcohol while on this.

[ConservativeMind]

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[newfreep]

"Treated mice really see better than mice without the drugs.

Just wondering....do they have mice that can speak and relate their vision abilities?

Perhaps mice that can do sign language?

[know.your.why]

WHAT! A repurposed drug? That can prevent blindness? I think we’ve learned that repurposed drugs that are proven to end sickness and even death are a no-no. I mean just look at how effective Ivermectin is for CV19 and doctors get fired for prescribing it. /s

[Who is John Galt?]

You would not want to drink alcohol while on this.

"I like liquor — its taste and its effects — and that is just the reason why I never drink it."
- Stonewall Jackson

;>)

[HartleyMBaldwin]

Thanks for posting this. My wife is taking medication for macular degeneration, and I’ll ask her to talk to her eye doctor about taking Antabuse. She doesn’t drink at all, so that’s not an issue.

[BiteYourSelf]

Watch out for sugar free gums and candies.
They’re generally sweetened with sugar alcohols.

[Cats1]

Bookmark

[amihow]

Saffron helps with dry amd.

[Rastus]

Ant abuse? Like, with a magnifying glass?

[Dr. Sivana]

The article does not mention wet macular degeneration, which is harder to deal with.

[aimhigh]

I wish these articles were issued AFTER the drug is tested on humans.

[ConservativeMind]

You can wait ten years for that study, but I won’t guarantee I will post it.

This is cutting edge research just released in respected journals. I provide it to Free Republic to allow people the opportunity to try the insight themselves, or to talk with their doctor about doing so.

Doctors haven’t even read these journals, yet.

[ConservativeMind]

Technically, neither the write up, nor the study, in my skimming of it, described either form.

Your mileage may vary, but for some, it will be worth exploring.

[lizma2]

A second thanks for posting this.

I know a super nice woman with Ushers syndrome. Deafness followed by Retinitis Pigmentosa. I’ll get this to her. And she can get this to her Hopkins doc.

Thanks much!!

[RoosterRedux]

Bfl

[HartleyMBaldwin]

Thanks to both.

[ptsal]

Bkmk

[Jemian]

You may have to give up your wine, but perhaps this could help.

[moonhawk]

Hmmmm....

Be able to see, or be able to drink?

Decisions, decisions.

Just kidding. I drink very little, and have dry AMD. Thanks for posting, I’ll delve further.