Scientists have considered the search of a medicine to cure Alzheimer's as a "turning point" in history. For the first time, a drug-like compound was used to stop death of brain cell in mice.

The landmark British study gives a most important way for drug treatments in future. The compound blocks a damaged signal in brains affected by neurodegenerative diseases. This stops the yield of essential proteins. Thereby, leading to brain cells being unprotected and dying off.

The study is published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine. This study was carried out at the Medical Research Council's (MRC) Toxicology Unit at the University of Leicester.

The compound used in the study was PERK. It works by inhibiting the enzyme. This enzyme plays an important role in triggering the defense mechanism. In mice suffering from prion's disease, it restored proteins that were responsible for protecting brain cells and also restores some of the common behaviors along with preventing memory loss.

"This finding, I suspect, will be judged by history as a turning point in the search for medicines to control and prevent Alzheimer's disease", said Professor Roger Morris, acting head King's College London's department of chemistry.

There are at present 800,000 people in the UK with dementia .Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia.