Scientists through the ages have been trying to solve the baffling puzzle behind liver failure leading to brain damage. But a new research using Viagra has come up with certain revelations that can uncover the whole mystery. Scientists used laboratory rats to come up with this interesting medical discovery.

The study, involving rats, has shown that Sildenafil in Viagra can help in understanding the mechanism responsible for learning impairment due to liver failure and restore the cognitive function of the brain too. Liver disease sometimes causes hepatic encephalopathy that results in brain damage, personality changes and intellectual impairment due to hyperammonemia (high levels of ammonia in the blood).

A study at the Laboratory of Neurobiology in The Fundacion Valenciana de Investigaciones Biomedicas in Valencia, Spain, led by Vicento Felipo postulated that a defect in the (glutamate- nitric oxide-cGMP) pathway in the brain cause impaired learning. The study also found that Sildenafil(Viagra) can restore the learning ability.

The research used laboratoty rats with liver disease that are fed on a normal diet with and without Sildenafil. The rats were given a maze learning test for four weeks from the day the drug treatment began. The results demostrated that rats with portacaval shunt had learning impairment, while shunted rats that were given Sildenafil restored their cognitive power. The tests further displayed that the concentration of cGMP was lessened in the extracellular fluid in the brains of shunted rats as compared to the cGMP concentration in rats that were given Sildenafil. Sildenafil restored levels of cGMP in these animals.

Rats with portacaval anastomosis (shunts) and rats with hyperammonemia without liver failure show conformity in the functions of the (glutamate-nitric oxide- cGMP) pathway, extracellular cGMP and learning ability. It is a clear indication that hyperammonemia, the only common alteration in both models,is responsible for the alteration of the pathway's function. It proves that hyperammonemia is responsible for impairment of learning ability. And Viagra can help you restore the cognitive function.