An ancient medication, called pentylenetetrazole, which was used to explore epilepsy, has shown an improvement in the conditioning processes in mice with Down syndrome symptoms.
Even after the treatment, its effect lasted for months. The scientists are now considering a clinical trial to test whether the compound has a similar effect in humans with Down syndrome.
However, the scholars are not very sure in predicting result of the drug on people.
Down syndrome is the most frequent genetic cause of mental retardation and occurs equally around the world, in about one in every 800 births. About 5,000 children born in the United States suffer from the problem.
