0000000000019333
AUTHOR
Sven Reinhardt
Extract of Caragana sinica as a potential therapeutic option for increasing alpha-secretase gene expression
Abstract Background Alzheimer's disease represents one of the main neurological disorders in the aging population. Treatment options so far are only of symptomatic nature and efforts in developing disease modifying drugs by targeting amyloid beta peptide-generating enzymes remain fruitless in the majority of human studies. During the last years, an alternative approach emerged to target the physiological alpha-secretase ADAM10, which is not only able to prevent formation of toxic amyloid beta peptides but also provides a neuroprotective fragment of the amyloid precursor protein – sAPPalpha. Purpose To identify novel alpha-secretase enhancers from a library of 313 extracts of medicinal plant…
Altered Gut Microbiome Composition and Tryptic Activity of the 5xFAD Alzheimer's Mouse Model.
The regulation of physiological gut functions such as peristalsis or secretion of digestive enzymes by the central nervous system via the Nervus vagus is well known. Recent investigations highlight that pathological conditions of neurological or psychiatric disorders might directly interfere with the autonomous neuronal network of the gut - the enteric nervous system, or even derive from there. By using a murine Alzheimer's disease model, we investigated a potential influence of disease-associated changes on gastrointestinal properties. 5xFAD mice at three different ages were compared to wild type littermates in regard to metabolic parameters and enzymes of the gut by fluorimetric enzyme as…
Implications of alpha- and beta-secretase expression and function in Alzheimer's disease
Abstract There has been intense debate in the field about the extent to which processing of the amyloid precursor protein contributes to pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. Early publications succeeding in the identification of the main component of senile plaques—the amyloid-beta (A-beta) peptide—strictly argued for a constitutive contribution of A-beta to disease initiation and progression. This led to development of the amyloid hypothesis, which in recent years was attacked for the lack of success of clinical studies based on the respective assumption. There is evidence that the hypothesis must be revisited, but accumulation of A-beta along with aging might still be the best explanation…
Rescue of Hypovitaminosis A Induces Non-Amyloidogenic Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) Processing.
Retinoic acid, the bioactive metabolite of beta-carotene or vitamin A, plays a pleiotropic, multifunctional role in vertebrate development. Studies in rodents revealed that a diet deficient in vitamin A results in a complex neonatal syndrome (the VAD syndrome), manifested in many organs. In humans, the function of retinoic acid (RA) extends into adulthood, where it has important roles in fertility, vision, and suppression of neoplastic growth. In recent years, it has also been suggested that retinoic acid might potentially act as a therapeutically relevant drug in attenuating or even preventing neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we report that VAD leads to an…
Changing fate
Abstract The alpha-secretase A disintegrin and metalloproteinase 10 (ADAM10) and the beta-secretase beta-APP cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE-1) compete in neurons to cleave the amyloid precursor protein (APP). The reaction started by BACE-1, designated the amyloidogenic pathway, leads to formation of neurotoxic amyloid beta peptides (A-betas), while alpha-secretase prevents this and gives rise to an alternative cleavage product (APPs-alpha, nonamyloidogenic pathway). The latter is also known to have neurotrophic and neuroprotective properties. Therefore, identification of mechanisms that lead to a switch in APP processing from the amyloidogenic to the nonamyloidogenic pathway is an attractive avenu…