No single drug is optimal to keep the brain on the healthy pathway . . . Why?
Such a drug would have to do all of the following:
- Reduce APPβ-cleavage
- Reduce γ-cleavage
- Increase α-cleavage
- Reduce caspase-6 cleavage
- Reduce caspase-3 cleavage
- Prevent amyloid-beta oligomerization
- Increase neprilysin
- Increase IDE (insulin-degrading enzyme)
- Increase microglial clearance of Aβ
- Increase autophagy
- Increase BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor)
- Increase NGF (nerve growth factor)
- Increase netrin-1
- Increase ADNP (activity-dependent neuroprotective protein)
- Increase VIP (vasoactive intestinal peptide)
- Reduce homocysteine
- Increase PP2A (protein phosphatase 2A) activity
- Reduce phospho-tau Increase phagocytosis index
- Increase insulin sensitivity
- Enhance leptin sensitivity
- Improve axoplasmic transport
- Enhance mitochondrial function and biogenesis
- Reduce oxidative damage and optimize ROS (reactive oxygen species) production Enhance cholinergic neurotransmission
- Increase synaptoblastic signaling
- Reduce synaptoclastic signaling
- Improve LTP (long-term potentiation)
- Optimize estradiol
- Optimize progesterone
- Optimize E2: P (estradiol to progesterone) ratio
- Optimize free T3
- Optimize free T4
- Optimize TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone)
- Optimize pregnenolone
- Optimize testosterone
- Optimize cortisol
- Optimize DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone)
- Optimize insulin secretion and signaling
- Activate PPAR-γ (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma)
- Reduce inflammation
- Increase resolvins
- Enhance detoxification
- Improve vascularization
- Increase cAMP (cyclic adenosine monophosphate)
- Increase glutathione
- Provide synaptic components
- Optimize all metals I
- ncrease GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)
- Increase vitamin D signaling Increase SirT1 (silent information regulator T1)
- Reduce NF-κB (nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells)
- Increase telomere length
- Reduce glial scarring
- Enhance stem-cell-mediated brain repair
And even this list may not be exhaustive. As you can see, this is a very tall order for a single drug.