Rodent of the week

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

As a consumer-focused section, Health rarely writes about animal studies because it’s impossible to say if the study results can be extrapolated to human health. That said, the findings from animal studies are often too cool to ignore. That’s why we’ll present a pick-of-the-litter animal study each Friday in Booster Shots. The item may tell you nothing of certainty about your own health. But you’re likely to learn a lot about rats and mice. Enjoy.

A medication that has been used to help athletes cheat appears to help mice with their memory. Erythropoietin, also commonly known as EPO, is an interesting medication. A hormone that controls red blood cell production, it’s used to treat anemia in people undergoing chemotherapy or with chronic kidney failure. Some athletes have used it to improve their performances, although it is banned from most athletic competitions.

Researchers have observed that when EPO is given to people with chronic kidney failure it seems to improve their cognition. A new study published in BMC Biology, however, suggest the drug acts in the brain to improve memory and cognition. Investigators gave mice EPO for three weeks and compared them to mice who didn’t receive the drug. The EPO mice performed better on memory tests than the other mice, an effect that lasted up to three weeks after the last EPO dose. Researchers have guessed that EPO improves memory by boosting blood production. But when the scientists examined the brains of the EPO mice, they found changes in the neurons in the hippocampus area of the brain.

With further research, EPO may be useful to treat the symptoms of a range of neurodegenerative diseases. But the medication has also been linked to serious side effects. In humans, that is. For more information on EPO, see this primer from the Mayo Clinic.

-- Shari Roan