ALS is an intractable disease of nerves in which muscles throughout the body gradually stop moving. A drug called ropinirole, a treatment for Parkinson's disease, may slow the progression of ALS.
The length of the protrusions of neurons that exchange information was 7.1 times on average when the drug was administered. The drug may be effective against ALS by suppressing the synthesis of cholesterol in nerve cells, says Professor Hideyuki Okano of Keio University. The study was published in the international scientific journal Cell Stem Cell.