Current Alzheimer Research - Volume 7, Issue 6, 2010

The definite diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is based on the detection of beta amyloid (Aβ) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) - which are the pathological hallmarks of the disease- in the postmortem brains. Although regional Cerebral Blood Flow (rCBF) and Cerebral Glucose Metabolism (CGM) abnormalities have already been studied in AD patients with Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) Read More

This paper reviews recent progress in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) from electroencephalograms (EEG). Three major effects of AD on EEG have been observed: slowing of the EEG, reduced complexity of the EEG signals, and perturbations in EEG synchrony. In recent years, a variety of sophisticated computational approaches has been proposed to detect those subtle perturbations in the EEG of AD patients. The paper Read More

Loss of norepinephrine (NE) releasing neurons, in the locus coeruleus of the brainstem, is well documented to occur in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, this process does not necessarily result in decreased release of NE, since compensatory mechanisms may produce increased release of this neurotransmitter. Independent of potential loss of locus coeruleus cells, brain NE levels may be elevated in some persons with AD, b Read More

Objective The study aimed to describe the prevalence of Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in Alzheimer's disease (AD), amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and controls using the 12-item Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and to analyze the relationships between neuropsychiatric symptoms with specific neuropsychological tests.Patients and methods; We prospectively studied 485 patients from the Memory Unit in Read More

Background: White matter hyper-intensities (WMHs) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are commonly found in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Cerebro-vascular risk factors including plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) may result in WMHs. This study examined the association between tHcy and WMHs, and their effects on cognitive functions in AD patients over a two-year follow-up period. Methods: One hundred and fifty-sev Read More

Background and Purpuse: Cerebral White matter changes (WMC) are a frequent finding on CT and MRI scans of elderly individuals, particularly in those with vascular risk factors, cerberovascular disease, and cognitive impairment. Methods: 56 subjects were included in the study after the review of reports of more than 200 consecutive brain Computerized Tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinati Read More

Amyloid β (Aβ) peptide plays a central role in neuronal apoptosis, promoting oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, caspase pathway activation and neuronal loss. Our previous study has shown that bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) reduce Aβ deposition when transplanted into acutely-induced Alzheimer's disease (AD) mice brain. However, the impact of reduced Aβ deposition on memory impai Read More

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a severe chronic neurodegenerative disease. During aging and neurodegeneration, misfolded proteins accumulate and activate the ubiquitin-proteasome system. The aim of the present study is to explore whether ubiquitin-activating enzyme E1, ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2, ubiquitin or proteasome activity are affected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of AD, mild cognitive impairment Read More

Background: Apolipoprotein-E (apoE) ε4 allele is a known risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Polymorphism of apoE is also one of the most important genetic markers for coronary artery disease (CAD). The allelic variation in the apoE gene has a significant effect on inter-individual variation of lipids and lipoprotein plasma levels as well. This study investigated whether apoE polymorphism affects the plasma levels of Read More