Alzheimer’s disease tagged posts

α2A agonists directly affect the non-amyloidogenic pathway and are neuroprotective through sAPPα.

In trials on rats, the drug brimonidine, which is routinely used to lower eye pressure in glaucoma patients, has been found to reduce the formation of amyloid proteins in the retina, which are believed to be linked to Alzheimer’s. The research was reported in the journal Cell Death and Disease. Amyloid plaques can be seen in the retinas of people with Alzheimer’s, so the researchers say the retina can be viewed as an extension of the brain that provides an opportunity to diagnose and track progression of Alzheimer’s.

Scientists found that brimonidine reduces neurodegeneration of cells in the retina by cutting the levels of beta amyloid in the eye...

Tau aggregation in disease

A relationship between inflammation, a toxic protein and the onset of the disease has been found. The study also identified a way that doctors can detect early signs of Alzheimer’s by looking at the back of patients’ eyes. “Early detection of Alzheimer’s warning signs would allow for early intervention and prevention of neurodegeneration before major brain cell loss and cognitive decline occurs,” said Ashley Nilson, a neuroscience graduate student. “Using the retina for detecting AD and other neurodegenerative diseases would be non-invasive, inexpensive and could become a part of a normal screening done at patient checkups.”

UTMB researchers have previously found evidence that a toxic form of tau protein may underlie the early stages of Alzheimer’s...

Ceftriaxone partially restores glutamate dynamic deficits around Aβ deposits.

New research from the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health at UBC has found a way to partially restore brain cell communication around areas damaged by plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The findings, published this week in Nature Communications, demonstrate a possible target and a potential drug treatment to reduce damage to the brain that occurs in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Using Ceftriaxone, an FDA-approved antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections, researchers were able to reduce synaptic disruption and clear the lines of neuronal communication in mice.

Amyloid plaques of -amyloid deposits develop in brain regions of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, These plaques are link...

Retro-inverso peptide inhibitor nanoparticles as potent inhibitors of aggregation of the Alzheimer’s Aβ peptide

New Alzheimer’s Rx could be delivered as nasal spray. A novel treatment could block the development of Alzheimer’s disease using microscopic droplets of fat, nanoliposomes, coated in protein fragments to carry drugs into the brain. This treatment approach, which is used to target drugs to cancer cells, has been successfully applied to Alzheimer’s disease for the first time, restoring memory loss in mice. The method stops amyloid protein accumulating into plaques, even at low concentrations.

Mice that were genetically altered to develop Alzheimer’s disease were injected with the nanoliposomes for three weeks...