# brain: the drug ISRIB reverses age-related cognitive decline within days (in mice) and even enhance cognition in healthy animals

<< Just a few doses of an experimental drug can reverse age-related declines in memory and mental flexibility in mice, (..)  The drug, called ISRIB (ISR InhiBitor), has already been shown in laboratory studies to restore memory function months after traumatic brain injury (TBI), reverse cognitive impairments in Down Syndrome , prevent noise-related hearing loss, fight certain types of prostate cancer , and even enhance cognition in healthy animals. >>

<< In the new study, researchers showed rapid restoration of youthful cognitive abilities in aged mice, accompanied by a rejuvenation of brain and immune cells that could help explain improvements in brain function. >>

<< ISRIB's extremely rapid effects show for the first time that a significant component of age-related cognitive losses may be caused by a kind of reversible physiological "blockage" rather than more permanent degradation, >> Susanna Rosi.

<< The data suggest that the aged brain has not permanently lost essential cognitive capacities, as was commonly assumed, but rather that these cognitive resources are still there but have been somehow blocked, trapped by a vicious cycle of cellular stress, (..)  Our work with ISRIB demonstrates a way to break that cycle and restore cognitive abilities that had become walled off over time. >> Peter Walter.

Drug reverses age-related cognitive decline within days. University of California, San Francisco. Dec 01, 2020.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-drug-reverses-age-related-cognitive-decline.html

Karen Krukowski, Amber Nolan, et al. 

Small molecule cognitive enhancer reverses age-related memory decline in mice. eLife. doi: 10.7554/ eLife.62048. Dec 1, 2020.

https://elifesciences.org/articles/62048