Muzuki Ueda

• Investigation of the association between blood pressure medication use during life and dementia pathology in the brain after death
• MBBS

Dementia is a group of diseases that affect memory, thinking, and behaviour. There are currently over 55 million people living with dementia worldwide, but available treatments have limited effectiveness. Recent evidence suggests that Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARB), a common medicine for treating high blood pressure, may also prevent dementia.

My project aimed to investigate the effect of ARB use during life on the distribution of dementia-related proteins in patient brains after death. The amount of dementia pathology across the brain was categorised using standardised rating scales. The amount of pathology was also measured directly by looking at two areas of the brain through a microscope. Using both methods, the amount of dementia-related proteins was lower in the ARB group than the control group.

The results suggest that ARBs could be an affordable and readily available medicine to prevent and possibly treat dementia, that benefit patients globally, including in low-income countries.

Funded by: Newcastle University Research Scholarship

Project Supervisors: Dr Paul Donaghy and Dr Daniel Erskine