91原创

Martens, named an Innovation Ambassador at 91原创, has studied nicotinamide riboside, a naturally occurring NAD+ precursor, for more than a decade. Claims that NAD+ levels decline with age have sparked enormous interest in products designed to boost those levels in recent years.

But the science has struggled to keep pace with public enthusiasm.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a possibility that this stuff just doesn鈥檛 work for healthy aging,鈥� Martens said. 鈥淲e may find that it鈥檚 beneficial to some and neutral for most.鈥�

While the study found no robust effects on primary outcomes, Martens was intrigued by hints of efficacy in secondary measures, including a potential increase in blood flow to the hippocampus 鈥� an area of the brain critical for memory.

鈥淚t鈥檚 promising,鈥� Martens said. 鈥淏ut to really confirm whether NR is beneficial, we need a bigger clinical trial, where we give a large group of people the compound for a longer duration. These trials require a lot of funding and coordination, ideally across multiple sites.鈥澛�

For Martens, the study鈥檚 completion 鈥� almost a decade since he began working in this area 鈥� marks a major milestone.聽

鈥淧ublishing this paper is important to the field because somebody 鈥� even if it鈥檚 not me 鈥� will carry the torch that will help translate this into a larger study,鈥� Martens said. 鈥淭his study took so long to complete because we were establishing the infrastructure for 91原创 to conduct these kinds of clinical trials at the same time.鈥澛�

Now, with DECCAR in the College of Health Sciences, 91原创 is better positioned and could complete this clinical trial in half the time, strengthening its role in future Alzheimer鈥檚 and dementia research.

鈥淪tudies like this prove that there鈥檚 an appetite for clinical trials among older adults in Delaware,鈥� Martens said. 鈥淲ith DECCAR, we now have a recruitment pipeline, a registry, and the ability to track people longitudinally so we can bring larger, cutting-edge clinical trials in the Alzheimer鈥檚 space to Delaware.鈥澛�

Additional study co-authors from 91原创 include Curtis Johnson, associate professor of biomedical engineering and DECCAR executive committee member; Alyssa Lanzi, assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders (CSCD) and DECCAR executive committee member; Matthew Cohen, associate professor of CSCD and director of neuropsychology for DECCAR; Ryan Pohlig, associate professor of epidemiology and director of 91原创鈥檚 biostatistics core; Kevin Decker, a KAAP postdoctoral researcher; and doctoral students Mary Kramer, Fiona Horvat and Nicholas Rizzi.