Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 12, Issue 6, 2006

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, affecting more than 30% of the population over 85 years of age. In 2002, the estimated cost of dementia in Western countries was about 1% of GDP, by 2050, this is expected to increase to about 3%. The development of neuroprotective pharmacological strategies is an important task for the research community. AD is characterized by two characteristic l Read More

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia with aging, that is pathologically characterized by senile plaques that contain amyloid-b peptides (Aβ) and neurofibrillary tangles comprised of phosphorylated tau. Genetic and biological studies provide evidence that the production and deposition of Aβ contribute to the etiology of AD. g-Secretase is the pivotal enzyme in generating the C terminus of Aβ, t Read More

Considerable effort has been made to develop drugs that delay or prevent neurodegeneration. These include inhibitors of Aβ-generating proteases for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Testing the amyloid hypothesis in vivo requires molecules that are capable of entering the CNS and that produce a substantial reduction in brain Aβ levels. Plaque-developing APP transgenic mice are currently widely used as an in vivo model Read More

Although there is still no known effective preventative treatment or cure for Alzheimer's disease (AD), the development of new drugs that target pathological features that appear early in the course of this disease and alleviate some of the early cognitive and memory symptoms is a laudable goal that may be one step closer. To date, the acetylcholinesterase inhibitors have been the most widely used AD drugs and have been s Read More

A significant amount of research has been focused on the relationship between hormones and Alzheimer's disease. However, the majority of this work has been on estrogen and more recently testosterone. A serendipitous patient encounter led one of us (RLB) to question whether other hormones of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis could be playing a role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. The age-related Read More

Several hypotheses have been proposed attempting to explain the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease (AD) including theories involving amyloid deposition, tau phosphorylation, oxidative stress, metal ion dysregulation and inflammation. Strong evidence suggests that each one contributes to disease pathogenesis, though none of these mechanisms result in all the downstream changes that occur during the course of AD. For t Read More

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive age-related neurodegenerative disorder with distinct neuropathological features. Extracellular plaques, consisting of aggregated amyloid peptides of 39-43 amino acids are one of the most prominent pathological hallmarks of this disease. Although the exact neurochemical effector mechanism of Aβ aggregation is not yet elucidated, age-associated disturbances of metal ion metabolism Read More

One of the major age-related damaging agents are reactive oxygen species (ROS). The brain is more vulnerable to oxidative stress than other organs as concomitant low activity and capacity of antioxidative protection systems allow for increased exposure of target molecules to ROS. Since neurons are postmitotic cells, they have to live with cellular damage accumulated over many decades. Increased levels of ROS (also ter Read More

Alzheimer's disease (AD) represents one of the most common ailments afflicting the rapidly growing elderly segment of today's population. Despite the vast amount of effort expended in developing a cure, currently approved drugs address only cognitive symptoms that, although important for improving a patient's daily living standard, do not provide a significant delay or halt to disease progression. Early reports that individuals Read More

Evidence obtained over the past two decades shows that reactive oxygen species (ROS) are involved in brain lesions, including those due to cerebral ischemia-reperfusion. The mitochondria are the primary intracellular source of ROS, as they generate huge numbers of oxidative-reduction reactions and use massive amounts of oxygen. When anoxia is followed promptly by reperfusion, the resulting increase in oxy Read More

Endocannabinoids are amides, esters and ethers of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, which act as new lipid mediators. Anandamide (N-arachidonoylethanolamine; AEA) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol are the main endogenous agonists of cannabinoid receptors, able to mimic several pharmacological effects of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the active principle of Cannabis sativa preparations like hashish and marijuana. Th Read More