The Optimization and Validation of Intranasal GHK-Cu Peptide Drug Delivery in Cognitive Impairment Pathology

Abstract

Neurological diseases present in 3 individuals out of every 100 over the age of 65. Neurological disorders are characterized by progressive impairment of cognitive function focusing on learning, memory, and decision-making. Treating these neurological diseases is challenging as drugs need to reach the brain where the damage occurs to the neurons, a process impeded by the body’s circulating metabolism and blood-brain barrier. The introduction of the genetic and tissue restorative GHK-Cu via intranasal administration is a superior route of neurotherapeutic delivery for neurological disease pathologies models such as Alzheimer’s Disease or Mild Cognitive Impairment. Two studies of animal model testing were performed with the eventual refinement of the intranasal delivery to mouse atomizer post GHK-Cu therapeutic validation. Behavioral assessments of spatial memory and learning latency were performed alongside histological stains to quantify the improvement of diseased mice given GHK-Cu in the intranasal route compared to control cohorts. Results were deemed to be a trend or significant from a t-test power statistical analysis. GHK-Cu does produce a marked change in disease model mice when given as therapeutic with a significant difference in learning latency and disease histology antibody markers and trends favoring GHK-Cu as a therapeutic agent in reducing cognitive impairment to working spatial memory and higher order functions.