scholarly journals Alzheimer’s disease as a metabolic disorder

OCL ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. D403 ◽  
Author(s):  
George S. Bloom ◽  
Andrés Norambuena

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is defined by memory loss and cognitive impairment, along with the accumulation in brain of two types of abnormal structures, extracellular amyloid plaques and intraneuronal neurofibrillary tangles. Both plaques and tangles are composed predominantly of poorly soluble filaments that respectively assemble from amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides and the neuron-specific, microtubule-associated protein, tau. It is now widely acknowledged that soluble oligomers of Aβ and tau, the building blocks of plaques and tangles, are principal drivers of AD pathogenesis by acting coordinately to impair and destroy synapses, and kill neurons. The behavioral features of AD are a direct consequence of these attacks on synapses and neuronal viability, which in turn reflect a reduced capacity of AD neurons to utilize energy sources needed to maintain neuronal function and vitality. In other words, AD neurons are starving, even when they may be surrounded by abundant nutrients. Here, we review some of the evidence for the metabolic deficiencies of neurons in AD and how they impact neuronal health.

Author(s):  
Qi Wu ◽  
Leonardo Cortez ◽  
Razieh Kamali-Jamil ◽  
Valerie Sim ◽  
Holger Wille ◽  
...  

Amyloid β (Aβ) peptides generated from the amyloid precursor protein (APP) play a critical role in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. Aβ-containing neuronal exosomes, which represent a novel form of intercellular communication, have been shown to influence function/vulnerability of neurons in AD. Unlike neurons, the significance of exosomes derived from astrocytes remains unclear. In this study, we evaluated the significance of exosomes derived from U18666A-induced cholesterol-accumulated astrocytes in the development of AD pathology. Our results show that cholesterol accumulation decreases exosome secretion, whereas lowering cholesterol level increases exosome secretion from cultured astrocytes. Interestingly, exosomes secreted from U18666A-treated astrocytes contain higher levels of APP, APP-CTFs, soluble APP, APP secretases and Aβ1-40 than exosomes secreted from control astrocytes. Furthermore, we show that exosomes derived from U18666A-treated astrocytes can lead to neurodegeneration, which is attenuated by decreasing Aβ production or by neutralizing exosomal Aβ peptide with an Aβ antibody. These results, taken together, suggest that exosomes derived from cholesterol-accumulated astrocytes can play an important role in trafficking APP/Aβ peptides and influencing neuronal viability in the affected regions of the AD brain.


Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1802
Author(s):  
Enrique Armijo ◽  
George Edwards ◽  
Andrea Flores ◽  
Jorge Vera ◽  
Mohammad Shahnawaz ◽  
...  

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia in the elderly population. The disease is characterized by progressive memory loss, cerebral atrophy, extensive neuronal loss, synaptic alterations, brain inflammation, extracellular accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques, and intracellular accumulation of hyper-phosphorylated tau (p-tau) protein. Many recent clinical trials have failed to show therapeutic benefit, likely because at the time in which patients exhibit clinical symptoms the brain is irreversibly damaged. In recent years, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have been suggested as a promising cell therapy to recover brain functionality in neurodegenerative diseases such as AD. To evaluate the potential benefits of iPSCs on AD progression, we stereotaxically injected mouse iPSC-derived neural precursors (iPSC-NPCs) into the hippocampus of aged triple transgenic (3xTg-AD) mice harboring extensive pathological abnormalities typical of AD. Interestingly, iPSC-NPCs transplanted mice showed improved memory, synaptic plasticity, and reduced AD brain pathology, including a reduction of amyloid and tangles deposits. Our findings suggest that iPSC-NPCs might be a useful therapy that could produce benefit at the advanced clinical and pathological stages of AD.


2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (26) ◽  
pp. 16886-16893 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Wang ◽  
Xianqiang Sun ◽  
Guanglin Kuang ◽  
Hans Ågren ◽  
Yaoquan Tu

The investigation of the (ZAβ3)2:Aβ complex highlights the energetic contribution of affibody residues to the binding with alzheimer's disease associated Aβ peptides.


2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. e100283
Author(s):  
Lin Zhu ◽  
Limin Sun ◽  
Lin Sun ◽  
Shifu Xiao

Short-term memory decline is the typical clinical manifestation of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, early-onset AD usually has atypical symptoms and may get misdiagnosed. In the present case study, we reported a patient who experienced symptoms of memory loss with progressive non-fluent aphasia accompanied by gradual social withdrawal. He did not meet the diagnostic criteria of AD based on the clinical manifestation and brain MRI. However, his cerebrospinal fluid examination showed a decreased level of beta-amyloid 42, and increased total tau and phosphorylated tau. Massive amyloid β-protein deposition by 11C-Pittsburgh positron emission tomography confirmed the diagnosis of frontal variant AD. This case indicated that early-onset AD may have progressive non-fluent aphasia as the core manifestation. The combination of individual and precision diagnosis would be beneficial for similar cases.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolando Oyola ◽  
Deguo Du ◽  
Idalia Ramos ◽  
Kyabeth Torres ◽  
Ambar S Delgado ◽  
...  

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been consistently related to the formation of senile amyloid plaques mainly composed of amyloid β (Aβ) peptides. The toxicity of Aβ aggregates has been indicated to...


Author(s):  
Ashok K. Datusalia ◽  
Gurpreet Singh ◽  
Nikita Yadav ◽  
Sachin Gaun ◽  
Moumita Manik ◽  
...  

: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disease, which affect millions of people worldwide. Accumulation of amyloid-β plaques and hyperphosphorylated neurofibrillary tangles are the key mechanisms involved in the etiopathogenesis of AD, characterized by memory loss and behavioural changes. Effective therapies targeting AD pathogenesis are limited, making it the largest unmet clinical need. Unfortunately, the available drugs provide symptomatic relief and primary care, with no substantial impact on the disease pathology. However, in recent years researchers are working hard on several potential therapeutic targets to combat disease pathogenesis and few drugs have also reached clinical trials. In addition, drugs are being repurposed both in the preclinical and clinical studies for the treatment of AD. For instance, montelukast is most commonly used leukotriene receptor antagonist, for treating asthma and seasonal allergy. Its leukotriene antagonistic action can also be beneficial for the reduction of detrimental effects of leukotriene against neuro-inflammation, an hallmark feature of AD. The available marketed formulations of montelukast present challenges such as poor bioavailability and reduced uptake, reflecting the lack of effectiveness of its desired action in the CNS. While on the other side targeted drug delivery is a satisfactory approach to surpass the challenges associated with the therapeutic agents. This review will discuss the enhancement of montelukast treatment efficacy and its access to CNS, by using new approaches like nano-formulation, nasal gel, solid lipid formulation, nano-structure lipid carrier (NSLC), highlighting lessons learned to target AD pathologies and hurdles that persist.


Author(s):  
Chitradevi D ◽  
Prabha S.

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is associated with Dementia, and it is also a memory syndrome in the brain. It affects the brain tissues and causes major changes in day-to-day activities. Aging is a major cause of Alzheimer's disease. AD is characterized by two pathological hallmarks as, Amyloid β protein and neurofibrillary tangles of hyperphosphorylated tau protein. The imaging hallmarks for Alzheimer’s disease are namely, swelling, shrinkage of brain tissues due to cell loss, and atrophy in the brain due to protein dissemination. Based on the survey, 60% to 80% of dementia patients belong to Alzheimer’s disease. Introduction: AD is now becoming an increasing and important brain disease. The goal of AD pathology is to cause changes/damage in brain tissues. Alzheimer's disease is thought to begin 20 years or more before symptoms appear, with tiny changes in the brain that are undetectable to the person affected. The changes in a person's brain after a few years are noticeable through symptoms such as language difficulties and memory loss. Neurons in different parts of the brain have detected symptoms such as cognitive impairments and learning disabilities. In this case, neuroimaging tools are necessary to identify the development of pathology which relates to the clinical symptoms. Methods: Several approaches have been tried during the last two decades for brain screening to analyse AD with the process of pre-processing, segmentation and classification. Different individual such as Grey Wolf optimization, Lion Optimization, Ant Lion Optimization and so on. Similarly, hybrid optimization techniques are also attempted to segment the brain sub-regions which helps in identifying the bio-markers to analyse AD. Conclusion: This study discusses a review of neuroimaging technologies for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease, as well as the discovery of hallmarks for the disease and the methodologies for finding hallmarks from brain images to evaluate AD. According to the literature review, most of the techniques predicted higher accuracy (more than 90%), which is beneficial for assessing and screening neurodegenerative illness, particularly Alzheimer's disease.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bor Luen Tang

Amyloid β (Aβ) peptides generated via sequential β- and γ-secretase processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) are major etiopathological agents of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, an initial APP cleavage by an α-secretase, such as the a disintegrin and metalloproteinase domain-containing protein ADAM10, precludes β-secretase cleavage and leads to APP processing that does not produce Aβ. The latter appears to underlie the disease symptom-attenuating effects of a multitude of experimental therapeutics in AD animal models. Recent work has indicated that an endogenous inhibitor of ADAM10, secreted-frizzled-related protein 1 (SFRP1), is elevated in human AD brains and associated with amyloid plaques in mouse AD models. Importantly, genetic or functional attenuation of SFRP1 lowered Aβ accumulation and improved AD-related histopathological and neurological traits. Given SFRP1′s well-known activity in attenuating Wnt signaling, which is also commonly impaired in AD, SFRP1 appears to be a promising therapeutic target for AD. This idea, however, needs to be addressed with care because of cancer enhancement potentials resulting from a systemic loss of SFRP1 activity, as well as an upregulation of ADAM10 activity. In this focused review, I shall discuss α-secretase-effected APP processing in AD with a focus on SFRP1, and explore the contrasting perspectives arising from the recent findings.


2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chidambar B. Jalkute ◽  
Kailas D. Sonawane

Amyloid-β (Aβ)-degrading enzymes are known to degrade Aβ peptides, a causative agent of Alzheimer's disease. These enzymes are responsible for maintaining Aβ concentration. However, loss of such enzymes or their Aβ-degrading activity because of certain genetic as well as nongenetic reasons initiates the accumulation of Aβ peptides in the human brain. Considering the limitations of the human enzymes in clearing Aβ peptide, the search for microbial enzymes that could cleave Aβ is necessary. Hence, we built a three-dimensional model of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) from <i>Stigmatella aurantiaca</i> using homology modeling technique. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation techniques were used to outline the possible cleavage mechanism of Aβ peptide. These findings suggest that catalytic residue Glu 434 of the model could play a crucial role to degrade Aβ peptide between Asp 7 and Ser 8. Thus, ACE from <i>S. aurantiaca</i> might cleave Aβ peptides similar to human ACE and could be used to design new therapeutic strategies against Alzheimer's disease.


2021 ◽  
pp. jnnp-2021-327370
Author(s):  
Joyce R. Chong ◽  
Nicholas J. Ashton ◽  
Thomas K. Karikari ◽  
Tomotaka Tanaka ◽  
Michael Schöll ◽  
...  

Discovery and development of clinically useful biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementias have been the focus of recent research efforts. While cerebrospinal fluid and positron emission tomography or MRI-based neuroimaging markers have made the in vivo detection of AD pathology and its consequences possible, the high cost and invasiveness have limited their widespread use in the clinical setting. On the other hand, advances in potentially more accessible blood-based biomarkers had been impeded by lack of sensitivity in detecting changes in markers of the hallmarks of AD, including amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides and phosphorylated tau (P-tau). More recently, however, emerging technologies with superior sensitivity and specificity for measuring Aβ and P-tau have reported high concordances with AD severity. In this focused review, we describe several emerging technologies, including immunoprecipitation-mass spectrometry (IP-MS), single molecule array and Meso Scale Discovery immunoassay platforms, and appraise the current literature arising from their use to identify plaques, tangles and other AD-associated pathology. While there is potential clinical utility in adopting these technologies, we also highlight the further studies needed to establish Aβ and P-tau as blood-based biomarkers for AD, including validation with existing large sample sets, new independent cohorts from diverse backgrounds as well as population-based longitudinal studies. In conclusion, the availability of sensitive and reliable measurements of Aβ peptides and P-tau species in blood holds promise for the diagnosis, prognosis and outcome assessments in clinical trials for AD.


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