Cotman was the first to suggest to the National Institutes of Health that Vitamin E be used on test patients. The results are still not definitive, but some research has shown that antioxidants may stave off development of the disease. Exercise also seems to protect us against the disease. Active rats had higher levels of these beneficial chemicals. In a recent experiment that made headlines, estrogen was found to have no effect in women with moderate Alzheimer's, but Cotman and his researchers maintain that the female sex hormone could still help prevent the disease from progressing.
Clinical trials are now underway to find if estrogen can play a preventive role.
Cotman continues to search for causes of the disease in hopes to find more ways to halt its progression. Recently he discovered that an imbalance exists in the life and death cycle of damaged nerve cells. By a process of programmed cell death known as apoptosis, nerve cells literally commit suicide. In people with Alzheimer's, the rate of apoptosis may be too high. The institute also is examining the way nerve cells reconnect after injury.