DENTON (UNT), Texas -- University of North Texas Distinguished Research Professor Richard Dixon has joined a research team involving Mount Sinai’s Ichan School of Medicine (MSSM) and Purdue University investigating how grape seed compounds affect Alzheimer’s disease.

Dixon’s work is funded by a National Institutes of Health grant through MSSM, and will continue a first-of-its-kind study indicating that grape seed compounds help to prevent the development or delay the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in mice.

“The current research shows that these compounds do slow the progression of the disease, and now we are working to have an explanation, to have proof, of exactly what activity is happening in the brain,” Dixon said. “Having that explanation will allow us to say, for the first time, that grape seed extract does slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, and here’s why.”

Dixon’s lab will develop synthesized versions of the grape seed-derived compounds that actually reach the brain, and researchers at Purdue University will then compare the synthesized and natural compounds to verify that they are exact matches. Dixon also will develop a standardized procedure other researchers will rely on to develop and test these compounds in the future.