Dasatinib and Quercetin as Senolytic May Cause Brain Damage

#21

This is from Novos labs, which has Fisetin in their formula:

#22

This is the important part: "In summary, we have found that D+Q causes demyelination in the brain"
Demyelination in the brain is bad. There is currently no scientific proof D+Q has any benefits for human brain health.

Check out the authors of this article. You won’t find much better.
This paper convinces me that there is no reason to take D+Q

This is a red flag that jumping on the bandwagon too soon is dangerous. And, I am often guilty of this.

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#23

The luminaries at Novos give fisetin an unequivocal thumbs up. 100mg of it in their 12 ingredient daily formula.

Dr. Mitin suggests it’s risky and ineffective. Maybe she’ll come back and expand a little.

#24

I had to stop taking quercetin because it gives me headaches. Quercetin is commonly attributed with why red wine gives some people headaches, but red wine does not give me headaches. I wonder if the headaches are related to the damage identified in the paper.

#25
  • Case Report
  • Published: 13 October 2017

We report a patient with CML who developed acute onset of DPN associated with dasatinib therapy. A 46-year-old Japanese woman was treated with dasatinib for 7 months after the diagnosis of CML and she achieved a major molecular response (MMR). However, dysphagia, hoarseness, and muscle weakness progressively developed over 2 weeks. Nerve conduction studies revealed extensive demyelinating changes.

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#26

D+Q study in both young and aged mice shown to cause neuropathy in the brain including demylelination. Treatment regime (dosing) was apparently the same as used by others in mice that showed increased survival so it wasnt like they were giving massive doses of D+Q.

"To determine whether D+Q treatment had any effects on
myelination in the brain, we treated a cohort of aged (22 mo)
C57Bl6/J mice with senolytics, dasatinib and quercetin (5 mg/
kg and 50 mg/kg, respectively), through oral gavage (Fig. 1A).
This treatment paradigm provides intermittent administration
of D+Q which increased posttreatment survival rates of aged
mice, as developed by others (31, 32). "

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2524897123

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Vol. 123, No. 12
Mar 2026

Senolytic treatment induces oligodendrocyte dysfunction and demyelination in the corpus callosum

Significance

The pharmacological combination of dasatinib and quercetin (D+Q), widely reported as a means of eliminating senescent cells from aged tissues to treat diseases (a.k.a. “senolytics”), and currently being tested in multiple clinical trials, when administered to healthy mice results in profound white matter injury in the central nervous system. This report provides evidence that this senolytic combination not only causes neuropathology but also provides data which support induction of the unfolded protein response as a plausible mechanism through which these senolytics affect oligodendrocytes. We propose that these data highlight a less understood means of demyelination not mediated by oligodendrocyte death with potential positive implications for understanding disease, while also warranting caution for its widespread use clinically.

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