A boost in bed could spell benefits both below and above the belt for those with erectile dysfunction.
Pills like tadalafil, otherwise known as Cialis, increase blood flow by opening the arteries. It’s this function that allows ED patients to achieve erection. But a new study reveals that the same mechanisms that treat the sexual disorder could also slow cognitive decline in older patients — so their minds and mojo stay sharp.
As we age, veins tend to narrow and weaken throughout the body, which means less blood gets pumped to the brain and other organs.
“Narrowing of the brain arteries is a common contributor to cognitive decline in older people and currently has no treatment,” said Dr. Jeremy Isaacs, a consulting neurologist at St. George’s Hospital in the UK, who worked on the study. It was published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
Isaacs’ team asked volunteers, both male and female, to take either a single dose of tadalafil or a placebo, then undergo an MRI that would determine how much blood was making it to the brain.
Their findings revealed no significant difference in brain blood flow between the tadalafil and placebo groups. However, participants over 70 showed increased flow to the brain’s white matter, in particular.
The white matter refers to a dense network of neural connections that enmesh the four lobes of the brain — and a crucial factor of vascular dementia. The disease causes a progressive loss of brain function by starving it of blood over time.
For similar reasons, risk factors for vascular dementia are similar to those for ED, including high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease and heart failure.
The clinical trial suggests that tadalafil, as well as similar-acting treatments such as sildenafil (Viagra) and vardenafil (Levitra), may have use beyond helping ED patients get their groove back.
“This was a landmark study in which we attempted to reverse the reduction in brain blood flow characteristic of this condition,” Isaacs said in a hospital news release, according to Health Day. “Although we did not find a significant effect following a single dose of tadalafil, we can’t rule out the possibility of benefits from longer-term use, for which further research is needed.”
Dr. Atticus Hainsworth, the study’s lead investigator, urged for more research into how old drugs could help new problems.
“Repurposed drugs have the increased benefits of a shorter development time, a known safety profile and low cost, once their original patent has expired,” said Hainsworth, a St. George’s cardiologist. “We hope that further investigations will prove fruitful and provide new options for clinicians treating dementia.”