Alzheimer’s Group Resources

Marijuana ineffective as an Alzheimer’s treatment: UBC-Vancouver Coastal Health research

(University of British Columbia) The benefits of marijuana in tempering or reversing the effects of Alzheimer's disease have been challenged in a new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)

Marijuana ineffective as an Alzheimer’s treatment

The benefits of marijuana in tempering or reversing the effects of Alzheimer's disease have been challenged in a new study. (Source: ScienceDaily Headlines)

Medication appears well-tolerated, beneficial in Huntington’s disease patients

(JAMA and Archives Journals) A medication previously studied in patients with Alzheimer's disease (latrepirdine) appears well tolerated and may improve thinking, learning and memory skills among individuals with Huntington's disease, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)

3D comparison of low, intermediate, and advanced hippocampal atrophy in MCI

We applied the hippocampal radial atrophy mapping technique to the baseline and follow-up magnetic resonance image data of 169 amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) participants in the imaging arm of the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study MCI Donepezil/Vitamin E trial. Sixty percent of the subjects with none to mild hippocampal atrophy rated with the visual medial temporal atrophy rating scale (MTA score < 2) and 33.8% of the subjects with moderate to severe (MTA [ge] 2) hippocampal atrophy converted to Alzheimer's disease (AD) during 3-year follow-up. MTA [ge] 2 showed a trend for greater left sided hippocampal atrophy versus MTA < 2 groups at baseline (Pcorrected = 0.08). Higher MTA scores were associated with progressive atrophy of the subiculum and the CA1-3 subregions. The MTA <...

Transgenic mouse and cell culture models demonstrate a lack of mechanistic connection between endoplasmic reticulum stress and tau dysfunction

In vivo aggregation of tau protein is a hallmark of many neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recent evidence has also demonstrated activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR), a cellular response to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, in AD, although the role of the UPR in disease pathogenesis is not known. Here, three model systems were used to determine whether a direct mechanistic link could be demonstrated between tau aggregation and the UPR. The first model system used was SH-SY5Y cells, a neuronal cultured cell line that endogenously expresses tau. In this system, the UPR was activated using chemical stressors, tunicamycin and thapsigargin, but no changes in tau expression levels, solubility, or phosphorylation were observed. In the second model syst...

Identification of novel 1,4-benzoxazine compounds that are protective in tissue culture and in vivo models of neurodegeneration

We report that several 2-arylidine and 2-hetarylidin derivatives of the 1,4-benzoxazines class of compounds are highly protective in tissue culture models of neurodegeneration. Results obtained using pharmcalogical inhibitors indicate that neuroprotection by these compounds does not involve the Raf-MEK-ERK or PI-3 kinase-Akt signaling pathways nor other survival-promoting molecules such as protein kinase A (PKA), calcium calmodulin kinase A (CaMK), and histone deacetylases (HDACs). We tested one of these compounds, (Z)-6-amino-2-(3[prime],5[prime]-dibromo-4[prime]-hydroxybenzylidene)-2H-benzo[b][1,4]oxazin-3(4H)-one, designated as HSB-13, in the 3-nitropropionic acid (3-NP)-induced mouse model of Huntington's disease. HSB-13 reduced striatal degeneration and improved behavioral performance...

Flavonoid transport across RBE4 cells: A blood-brain barrier model.

In conclusion, the tested flavonoids were capable of crossing this blood-brain barrier model. PMID: 20140760 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Cellular and Molecular Biology Letters)

Strategies to increase the reproducibility of protein fibrillizationin plate reader assays.

Authors: Giehm L, Otzen DE There is great interest in developing reproducible high-throughput screens to identify small molecular inhibitors of protein fibrillization and aggregation for possible therapy against deposition diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's (PD). We have made a methodical analysis of factors increasing the reproducibility of the fibrillization of alpha-synuclein (alphaSN), a 140 amino acid protein implicated in PD and notorious for its erratic fibrillization behaviour. Salts and polyanionic polymers do not significantly improve the quality of the assay. However, an orbital agitation mode in the plate reader is a crucial first step towards reproducible alphaSN fibrillization. Higher reproducibility is achieved by the addition of glass beads, as evaluated by th...

Verbal memory impairment in subcortical ischemic vascular disease A descriptive analysis in CADASIL.

Authors: Epelbaum S, Benisty S, Reyes S, O'Sullivan M, Jouvent E, Düring M, Hervé D, Opherk C, Hernandez K, Kurtz A, Viswanathan A, Bousser MG, Dichgans M, Chabriat H In the elderly, the high prevalence of Alzheimer's disease neuropathology presents a major challenge to the investigation of memory decline in common diseases such as small vessel disease. CADASIL represents a unique clinical model to determine the spectrum of memory impairment in subcortical ischemic vascular dementia (SIVD). One hundred and forty CADASIL patients underwent detailed clinical, neuropsychological and imaging analyses. The Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test was used as a measure of verbal memory. Forty-four out of 140 CADASIL patients (31.4%) presented with memory impairment according to this ...

Triflusal reduces dense-core plaque load, associated axonal alterations and inflammatory changes, and rescues cognition in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease.

Authors: Coma M, Serenó L, Da Rocha-Souto B, Scotton TC, Espana J, Sánchez MB, Rodríguez M, Agulló J, Guardia-Laguarta C, Garcia-Alloza M, Borrelli LA, Clarimón J, Lleó A, Bacskai BJ, Saura CA, Hyman BT, Gómez-Isla T Inflammation has been associated with the two classic lesions in the Alzheimer's (AD) brain, amyloid deposits and neurofibrillary tangles. Recent data suggest that Triflusal, a compound with potent anti-inflammatory effects in the central nervous system in vivo, might delay the conversion from amnestic mild cognitive impairment to a fully established clinical picture of dementia. In the present study, we investigated the effect of Triflusal on brain Abeta accumulation, neuroinflammation, axonal curvature and cognition in an AD transgenic ...