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Impotence drugs can be used to treat senile dementia
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Tadalafil (a drug similar in action to Viagra), according to experts, can help prevent senile dementia. Tadalafil improves blood circulation in the brain, dilates blood vessels, which has a beneficial effect on the condition of patients with dementia caused by problems with blood vessels (this form of senile dementia ranks second among all types of dementia).
As is known, the vessels in the brain of some people lose elasticity and become thicker with age. In this condition, the vessels are not able to fully supply the brain with blood, which ultimately leads to a deficiency of nutrients and oxygen. Such problems occur in about 70% of elderly people.
At St George's University, a team of researchers planned to study the effects of Tadalafil on volunteers over 50 years of age with existing memory and vascular problems.
The research team will analyze blood flow to the brain before and after taking Tadalafil.
As it became known, specialists intend to give small doses of the drug to the participants of the experiment, and a group taking a placebo will also be created.
Drugs to improve erectile function (for example, Sildenafil, the active ingredient in the well-known drug Viagra), as shown by earlier studies, have a positive effect in the treatment of gastroparesis and pulmonary arterial hypertension.
But a team of researchers at the University of South Wales said the drug was making patients' vision worse.
Sildenafil impairs the functioning of an enzyme that is essential for transmitting light signals from the retina to the brain.
Sildenafil has a particularly harmful effect on people with retinitis pigmentosa and hereditary eye diseases that lead to blindness.
People with normal heredity may have a gene that causes retinitis pigmentosa, but most don't even know it. But such a mutation occurs in one in 50 people.
Retinitis pigmentosa is caused by mutations in the genes that produce the PDE6 enzyme. People who have two copies of the altered genes are most likely to develop the disease.
In a new research project, researchers studied the effects of a single dose of Sildenafil on rodents with normal heredity and with a gene mutation.
As a result, it was noted that temporary deterioration of vision occurred in mice with normal heredity, while the effect after taking the drug lasted longer, compared to rodents with gene mutations.
The experts also noticed that the process of early cell death had begun in the eyes of the rodents.
Ultimately, sildenafil caused degeneration in rodents that were carriers of the retinal disease.
Side effects often include increased sensitivity to light, problems with color perception, and blurred vision, so it is important to consider this when prescribing Viagra to patients.
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