Can a molecule that makes mice smarter heal a human brain?

Re:Can a molecule that makes mice smarter heal a human brain? by beambot on Thursday September 29, 2016 @02:04PM (#12607416)

> I would guess that you are right simply because most drugs that initially show promise in mice fail during clinical trials in humans.

What about the contrapositive... How many substances fail in mouse studies (and are discarded), yet would have been viable in humans? Any known examples of this?

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Re:Can a molecule that makes mice smarter heal a human brain? by philipkglass on Thursday September 29, 2016 @02:14PM (#12607513)

I don't know off the top of my head of any drugs that work in humans but have intolerable problems in mice. I do know that some substances are much more toxic to other mammals than to us. For example, acetaminophen is very toxic to cats. Theobromine is much more toxic to dogs and cats than to humans. 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin is rapidly lethal to guinea pigs at a level that might only cause skin problems and/or reproductive defects in humans.

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Re:Can a molecule that makes mice smarter heal a human brain? by luminiferous on Thursday September 29, 2016 @04:39PM (#12608585)

Not exactly a drug, but during animal testing of saccharin in the 1970s, saccharin was found to induce bladder cancer in mice in high doses. However, the mechanism of action was later found to be specific to rodents and not applicable to humans.

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Re:Can a molecule that makes mice smarter heal a human brain? by blackbagboys on Thursday September 29, 2016 @05:06PM (#12608760)

Minoxidil, the active ingredient in Rogaine, is lethal to cats.

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Re:Can a molecule that makes mice smarter heal a human brain? by eth0up on Thursday September 29, 2016 @05:35PM (#12608949)

Curiously, felines are apparently among the most resistant mammals to prions, maybe second to pigs.

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Re:Can a molecule that makes mice smarter heal a human brain? by wyager on Thursday September 29, 2016 @04:05PM (#12608350)

Permethrine is highly lethal to cold-blooded animals and cats.

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Re:Can a molecule that makes mice smarter heal a human brain? by scotty79 on Thursday September 29, 2016 @07:01PM (#12609481)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warfarin

Not sure if it applies though because it being severly harmful to rodents hasn't prevented us from looking into this substance closely. Quite the opposite.

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Re:Can a molecule that makes mice smarter heal a human brain? by cariaso on Thursday September 29, 2016 @11:12PM (#12610332)

Much of our human testing only happened after a human attempted to use it for suicide, unsuccessfully. If anything this example helps to prove the parent's point.

from your wikipedia link

After an incident in 1951, where a US Army inductee unsuccessfully attempted suicide with multiple doses of warfarin in rodenticide and recovered fully after presenting to a hospital, and being treated with vitamin K (by then known as a specific antidote),[70] studies began in the use of warfarin as a therapeutic anticoagulant. It was found to be generally superior to dicoumarol, and in 1954 was approved for medical use in humans. An early recipient of warfarin was US president Dwight Eisenhower, who was prescribed the drug after having a heart attack in 1955.[70]

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Re:Can a molecule that makes mice smarter heal a human brain? by simonsarris on Thursday September 29, 2016 @02:18PM (#12607559)

Well, we certainly are lucky we didn't test the drug "chocolate" on dogs first.

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