Ibudilast

Ibudilast (brand names Ketas or Pinatos in Japan, drug development names AV411 and MN166 the United States)) is a drug used for over 20 years in Japan, mostly for asthma and post-stroke dizziness. Ibudilast is a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, an immunomodulator, reduces microglial activation, and has anti-inflammatory effects.

Potential uses

Ibudilast is under investigation for a number of new purposes, and evidence exists that it can be combined with opioids to reduce chronic nerve pain. Many studies of ibudilast are on rats or other animals rather than humans. Ibudilast crosses the blood-brain barrier and suppresses glial cell activation.

immunomodulator An immunomodulator is a substance that affects the functioning of the immune system

microglia A type of immune cell, called a macrophage, that lives in the brain. For historical reasons, macrophages have different names based on the part of the body that they normally live in. Macrophages that normally live in the blood are called monocytes. Macrophages that normally live in the skin are called Langerhans cells. Macrophages that normally live in the liver are called Kupffer cells. And macrophages that normally live in the central nervous system are called microglia. Microglia were originally classified as glial cells, under the assumption that the cells had a merely structural function, before it was realized that the cells were in fact immune cells. As the "sentinel cells" of the central nervous system, microglia survey their environment for abnormalities such as infection or tissue damage, and then initiate an immune response to fight the infection or repair the tissue damage.