Current Alzheimer Research - Volume 10, Issue 8, 2013

The β-secretase, BACE1, generates β-amyloid (Aβ), a major hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. The elevation of BACE1 levels in brains of AD patients may play a role in initiating or propagating disease. BACE1 levels are increased under low energy or low oxygen conditions, which may occur in individuals with impaired circulation in the brain. We compared levels of BACE1 in the brains of aged, non-demented indivi Read More

Context: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is usually only diagnosed many years after pathology begins. Earlier detection would allow emerging interventions to have a greater chance to preserve healthy brain function. A rare form of Alzheimer's disease, caused by autosomal-dominant mutations, affects carriers with 100% certainty and at a younger age specific to their mutation. Studying families with these mutations a Read More

Amyloid beta (Aβ) aggregation and deposition is a key pathological hallmark of AD. Growing evidence suggests that neurotoxicity of this peptide is related to the formation of toxic oligomeric aggregates. Therefore, a deeply investigated therapeutic strategy comes at present from blocking the formation of these species to non-toxic aggregates. Among other considered strategies, the multi-target approach has been proposed a Read More

A key feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is deposition of extracellular amyloid plaque comprised chiefly of the amyloid β (Aβ) peptide. Studies of Aβ have shown that it may be catabolized by proteolysis or cleared from brain via members of the low-density lipoprotein receptor family. Alternatively, Aβ can undergo a conformational transition from α-helix to β-sheet, a conformer that displays a propensity to self-associat Read More

In Alzheimer's disease (AD), neurofibrillary degeneration in the hemispheres starts in the limbic and paralimbic regions prior to those in the isocortical ones but factors determining the progression of these changes are unknown. Previous studies have shown that migration of extracellular substances (volume transmission) driven by arterial pulse pressure waves from the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) towards the brain parenchy Read More

The activities of CDK5 and p35 are thought to be important in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). We studied the effect of p35 deletion in Tg2576 mice, which is an AD animal model. To obtain the desired mice, we crossed p35-/- with Tg2576 mice. The resulting p35-/-/Tg2576 (KO/Tg) mice displayed higher mortality rates and exhibited impaired spatial learning and memory at Read More

Background: Although it is now evident that normal cognition can occur despite significant AD pathology, few studies have attempted to characterize this discordance, or examine factors that may contribute to resilient brain aging in the setting of AD pathology. Methods: More than 2,000 older persons underwent annual evaluation as part of participation in the Religious Orders Study or Rush Memory Aging Project. A Read More

At present, the etiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is still unclear, but both genetic and non-genetic factors are thought to take part in the etiopathogenesis of AD. Epidemiologic researches revealed that genetic factors played a decisive role in the development of both early-onset AD (EOAD) and late-onset AD (LOAD). The mutations in APP, PSEN1 and PSEN2 are inherited in a Mendelian fashion and directly lead to the Read More

The aging process in the hippocampus is associated with aberrant epigenetic marks, such as DNA methylation and histone tail alterations. Recent evidence suggests that caloric restriction (CR) can potentially delay the aging process, while upregulation of antioxidants may also have a beneficial effect in this respect. We have recently observed that CR attenuates age-related changes in the levels of the epigenetic molecules DNA Read More

The aim of this review is to summarize the current magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) variants applied on the studies of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Experimental findings, advantages and disadvantages, and the prospect of every individual technique will be presented. MRI can be used to investigate the change of the brain in terms of volume, function, white matter track orientation and even mechanical properties and me Read More

Alzheimer´s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative dementia which currently represents one of the biggest threats for the human kind. The cure is still unknown and various hypotheses (cholinergic, amyloidal, oxidative, vascular etc.) are investigated in order to understand the pathophysiology of the disease and on this basis find an effective treatment. Tacrine, the first approved drug for the AD disease treatme Read More