Current Alzheimer Research - Volume 11, Issue 5, 2014

Background: PF-04447943 is a potent, selective phosphodiesterase 9A (PDE9A) inhibitor that elevates guanoscine 3’,5’ – cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) in brain and cerebrospinal fluid. PDE9A inhibition enhances synaptic plasticity and improves memory in preclinical cognition models, and prevents decreases in dendritic spine density in transgenic mice that overexpress amyloid precursor protein (APP) leading to high levels Read More

The currently available experimental data supports the hypothesis that the neuroprotective effect of dimebon is related to the protection of the brain-mitochondria from neurodegeneration. In this study, the influence of dimebon on mitochondria was investigated to gain a better understanding of the neuroprotective effects of this drug. Here, we demonstrate that dimebon enhances the resistance of the isolated r Read More

The neuroinflammation induced by amyloid-β (Aβ) is one of the key events in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) progress in which microglia are the main cells involved. Receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) mediates and enhances Aβ-induced microglial activation and leads to induction of proinflammatory mediators, such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β). Geniposide, a pharmacologically activ Read More

As the most common neurodegenerative disease, therapeutic avenues for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease are highly sought after. The aspartic protease BACE1 is the initiator enzyme for the formation of Aβ, a major constituent of amyloid plaques that represent one of the hallmark pathological features of this disorder. Thus, targeting BACE1 for disease-modifying AD therapies represents a rationale approa Read More

Brain glucose hypometabolism has been observed in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients, and is detected with 18F radiolabelled glucose, using positron emission tomography. A pathological hallmark of AD is deposition of brain β- amyloid plaques that may influence cerebral glucose metabolism. The five times familial AD (5XFAD) mouse is a model of brain amyloidosis exhibiting AD-like phenotypes. This study examine Read More

Apolipoprotein E (APOE) genetic variation and aging are the two most noted risk factors associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) related dementia. However, the relationship between these two pathological factors is not understood. Formaldehyde (FA) is an age related factor that has been found to be elevated in AD patients and is known to have protein cross-linking properties. FA forms cross-links with l Read More

Multiple modalities of cognitive stimulation (CS) have been designed and tested in samples of patients with probable Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Despite the substantial inter-study variability, an overall positive impact of CS is reported. This impact has been especially observed in general measures of cognition. The mechanisms by which cognitive exercises would be beneficial for high-order cortical functions are still largel Read More

Objective: To investigate effects and functional mechanism of compound Congrongyizhi Capsule (CCRC), a Chinese medicine, on cognitive functions against amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) patients with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) based on n-back task. Methods: Forty-one aMCI participants from hospital and local communities in Beijing and randomly divided into treatment (16 patients with CCRC c Read More

Background: With age, performance of motor tasks becomes more reliant on cognitive resources to compensate for the structural and functional declines in the motor control regions in the brain. We hypothesized that participants with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) are more prone to motor dysfunctions than cognitively normal older adults under dual-task conditions where competitive demands challenge cog Read More

Different kinds of challenge can alter cognitive process and electroencephalographic (EEG) rhythms in humans. This can provide an alternative paradigms to evaluate treatment effects in drug discovery. Here, we report recent findings on the effects of challenges represented by sleep deprivation (SD), transient hypoxia, and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in healthy volunteers on cognitive processes and EEG r Read More