Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0002395 (Alzheimer's disease)
 110,584 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The Alzheimer type of senile dementia (SDAT) accounts for more than 50% of such cases, and is a very common disorder as well as being very costly in emotional, economic, and medical terms. It carries a markedly shortened life expectancy. Gray-to-white-matter ratios change and the brain shrinks slightly in the course of normal aging, but SDAT brains may not be significantly more atrophic than are normal controls. Cortical neurons are diminished in number in normal aging, but counts from frontal and midtemporal regions of SDAT specimens are not different from age-matched controls. There is loss of dendrites and of dendritic spines in both normal and abnormal aged specimens. Neurofibrillary tangles are made up of paired helical filaments that appear to be chemically and immunologically related to normal neurofibers. Neuritic plaques are made up of an amyloid core surrounded by abnormal axonal endings. Both plaques and tangles are to be correlated with the presence of senile dementia. There is some evidence for an infectious etiology of SDAT. Choline acetyltransferase is markedly reduced in cortical tissue of these patients, but the muscarinic receptors of acetylcholine are normal.
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PMID:Senile dementia. 72 Jun 37

We previously suggested the hypothesis that defective neuronal plasticity is a major neurobiological deficit causing the dementia of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We used message levels of the growth-associated protein, GAP-43, as a marker of axonal plasticity to examine the hypothesis of defective neuronal plasticity in AD. When all AD cases are combined, the average level of GAP-43 message in area 9 of the AD frontal association cortex was not significantly different from the level in the comparably aged control cortex. Differentiation of AD cases on the basis of neurofibrillary tangle (NFT) density revealed that in AD cases with high tangle density average GAP-43 message level was reduced fivefold relative to levels in AD cases with low NFT density. AD cases with low neurofibrillary tangle density had levels of GAP-43 message that were not significantly different from the levels of normal controls. Differentiation of AD cases on the basis of neuritic plaque density did not indicate as strong a relationship to GAP-43 message level. The association between neurofibrillary tangle density and GAP-43 message level suggests the hypothesis that neurofibrillary tangles may reduce GAP-43 expression. Data of others show a relationship between high NFT density and reduced levels of synaptophysin-like immunoreactivity and reduced cerebral glucose metabolism. These data combine to suggest a set of AD cases with high NFT density, reduced axonal plasticity, reduced synaptic density, and reduced cerebral glucose metabolism--all variables that may be directly related to the functioning of the brain.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Reduced GAP-43 message levels are associated with increased neurofibrillary tangle density in the frontal association cortex (area 9) in Alzheimer's disease. 128 45

The laminar projections from the cerebral cortex to the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus and adjacent thalamic nuclei were studied by means of the horseradish peroxidase (HRP) retrograde axonal transport method. A possible correlation was found between the connectivity arising from layer V of the cerebral cortex, and the rich-acetylcholinesterase (AChE) regions within the subcortical structures under study. This suggests the possibility that layer V of the cerebral cortex in Alzheimer's disease is initially affected and subsequently those rich-AChE subcortical regions with which it is connected.
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PMID:[Projections from lamina V of the cerebral cortex to the dorsomedial thalamic nucleus and neighboring nuclei]. 128 6

The amyloid plaques of Alzheimer disease (AD) are surrounded by dystrophic axons that contain ubiquitinated dense bodies. To investigate whether deposits of other types of amyloid cause axonal degeneration we studied 5 cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) with immunocytochemical methods using ubiquitin and prion protein (PrP) antisera. One of these cases contained PrP plaques in the cerebellum. In all cases dystrophic axons, which contain ubiquitinated dense bodies, were observed in neocortical and cerebellar grey matter, in absence of PrP-reactive amyloid deposits. Only a minority of PrP plaques present in the cerebellum was associated with ubiquitin positive neurites. The results indicate that, unlike in AD, the occurrence of ubiquitinated dystrophic axons is independent from amyloid deposition in CJD and is likely to be a primary phenomenon.
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PMID:Ubiquitin-reactive axons have a widespread distribution and are unrelated to prion protein plaques in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. 135 19

The tau proteins are a family of brain microtubule binding proteins that are required during axonal outgrowth and are found in neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer disease. A protein of higher molecular weight, immunologically related to tau, is expressed in the adult peripheral system and in cultured neuronal cell lines of neural crest origin. The predicted amino acid sequence of the high molecular weight tau from N115 cells has been determined from the sequence of its 2340-base-pair cDNA. High molecular weight tau contains an open reading frame encoding 733 amino acid residues. It contains sequences homologous to those present in the N-, middle, and C-terminal domains of adult brain tau proteins, including four homologous repeats, which are the tubulin binding sites, and an amino acid stretch, which is present only in the N-terminal domain of the mature brain variants. The middle region contains a previously unidentified nonhomologous stretch of 237 amino acid residues as well as a domain of 66 residues homologous to exon 6 of the bovine gene that is absent in all bovine, rat, and mouse tau cDNAs sequenced so far. A cDNA probe specific to the nonhomologous tau insert hybridizes to the 8- to 9-kilobase tau mRNA in N115 cells but not to the 6-kilobase tau mRNA in brain. Probes for the domains common to brain tau isoforms hybridize to both messages. The sequence of high molecular weight tau protein also suggests that it, like low molecular weight tau, is an elongated hydrophilic molecule. This cDNA should allow us to study the role of the domains specific to these tau forms in the specialization of the peripheral nervous system and for study of their expression in normal and pathological states.
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PMID:Primary structure of high molecular weight tau present in the peripheral nervous system. 137 98

Using the monoclonal antibody, ME 20.4, against the p75 nerve growth factor (NGF) receptor, NGF receptor-like immunoreactivity has been identified in axonal processes innervating the human hippocampus, where previously a loss of reactivity has been reported in a preliminary study of Alzheimer's disease [10]. In an extended analysis of 15 cases of Alzheimer's disease, the number of NGF receptor positive fibres in the fimbria and alveus was generally decreased compared with age-matched normal groups, in presenile but not senile cases (differentiated by age of onset before or after 65 years). By contrast, in 5 demented Parkinson's disease cases (aged 61-86 years at death) immunohistochemically reactive fibres were consistently minimal or absent. This pattern of NGF receptor loss in the hippocampus most closely reflects the loss of basal forebrain cholinergic neurones, previously reported within the different clinical groups but not by biochemical measures of cholinergic function. It is concluded that even at moderately advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease with onset in the senium, axonal processes and NGF receptor mechanisms may be structurally intact in areas of cholinergic innervation from the basal forebrain, despite evidence of cholinergic dysfunction (decreased choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and acetylcholinesterase), but that in presenile Alzheimer's and in demented Parkinson's disease cases the receptor declines in conjunction with the loss of subcortical neurones and their processes. The loss of ChAT activity may therefore reflect a dysfunction of the NGF system, in its normal maintenance of the cholinergic phenotype in basal forebrain neurones.
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PMID:Hippocampal nerve growth factor receptor immunoreactivity in patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. 143 50

Protease inhibition is the mechanism by which some trophic factors promote the extension of neurites. In the rat sciatic nerve, we assessed the ability to induce sprouts of the APP isoform that embodies the Kunitz antiprotease domain and other antiproteases. With the electron microscope, axonal sprouts were found when antiproteases were supplied but not after administration of inactive substances. We conclude that axons have a drive to sprout which can be released by the unbalance of an extracellular protease-antiprotease system. We propose that this system is involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease.
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PMID:Axonal sprouting induced in the sciatic nerve by the amyloid precursor protein (APP) and other antiproteases. 143 93

To determine the distribution of amyloid precursor protein (APP), monoclonal antibodies against APP45-62 (APP1-28-9) and beta1-17 (4A18 and 4A61) were produced. In the sections of Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain, APP1-28-9 was reactive with neurites around senile plaques and a few neurons but not with amyloid cores. This antibody also immunostained the axons in the ischemic lesions of brain tissues from cases with cerebral infarct. 4A18 and 4A61 were reactive with amyloid plaques but not with neurites and neurons. The latter two antibodies also immunostained axons in ischemic lesions. These findings suggest that APP, transported by the fast axonal flows, accumulated in the injured axons in the central nervous system. The beta immunoreactivity appearing in those axons may provide a clue to the mechanism of amyloidogenesis.
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PMID:Accumulation of amyloid precursor protein and beta-protein immunoreactivities in axons injured by cerebral infarct. 145 67

Because the cellular effects of beta-amyloid protein (beta-AP) are currently unclear, we evaluated the in vivo effects of beta-AP implants in a lipid matrix to prolong tissue exposure in the brains of rats. Young 3-month-old rats and aged 18-month-old rats received implants of beta-AP prepared in a cocoa butter matrix in the dorsal hippocampus and corpus striatum on one side of the brain and implants of either prolactin or scrambled beta-AP peptide in cocoa butter on the contralateral side. The old rats also received implants of beta-AP embedded in a cholesterol matrix or cholesterol alone in the frontal cortex. The young rats were sacrificed 3-4 days after implantation, while the old rats were sacrificed 6-8 weeks after implantation. Lesion size on the beta-AP implanted side did not differ significantly from lesion size observed with control peptides. Bielschowsky silver staining revealed few argyrophilic neurites and axonal spheroids associated with either beta-AP or control implants. Alz 50 and ubiquitin immunoreactivity were not observed. None of the implant sites demonstrated cytopathology characteristic of Alzheimer's disease. The results of this study indicate that beta-AP implantation into the brains of rats produced no consistent effect beyond that seen with control peptide implants.
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PMID:Implants containing beta-amyloid protein are not neurotoxic to young and old rat brain. 146 46

(-)Deprenyl (Selegiline, Jumex, Eldepryl, Movergan), a close structural relative to phenylethylamine (PEA), is a drug of a unique pharmacological spectrum. (a) It is highly potent and selective irreversible inhibitor of B-type monoamine oxidase (MAO), a predominantly glial enzyme in the brain, the activity of which significantly increases with age. (-)Deprenyl was the first selective inhibitor of MAO-B described in literature, became the worldwide research tool used for blocking selectively B-type MAO, and is still the only MAO-B inhibitor in clinical use. (b) (-)Deprenyl interferes with the uptake of catecholamines and indirectly acting sympathomimetics because it is handled by the catecholaminergic neuron similarly to the physiological substances transported through the axonal end-organ and vesicular membrane. The unique behavior of (-)deprenyl is that, in striking contrast to PEA and its relatives, it does not push the transmitter from the storage places, i.e., it is not a releaser. The net result is that (-)deprenyl inhibits the releasing effect of tyramine and is presently the only safe MAO inhibitor which can be administered without dietary restrictions. (c) Maintenance on (-)deprenyl enhances selectively superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase activity in the striatum. This effect is unrelated to the MAO and uptake inhibitory effects of the drug. (d) Maintenance on (-)deprenyl facilitates the activity of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons with remarkable selectivity. This effect is also unrelated to either the MAO or the uptake inhibitory effects of the drug. All in all, (-)deprenyl maintains the activity of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic machinery on a higher activity level and slows down its age-related decline. Male rats maintained on (-)deprenyl lost their capacity to ejaculate later, retained their learning ability longer, and lived longer than their saline-treated peers. Parkinsonians on levodopa plus (-)deprenyl (10 mg daily) lived significantly longer than those on levodopa alone. (-)Deprenyl is the first drug which retards the progress of Parkinson's disease. Freshly diagnosed parkinsonians maintained on (-)deprenyl did not require levodopa until significantly later than their placebo-treated peers. Maintenance on (-)deprenyl significantly improved the performance of patients with Alzheimer's disease. It is concluded that in Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease patients need to be treated daily with 10 mg (-)deprenyl from diagnosis until death, irrespective of other medication.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Pharmacological basis of the therapeutic effect of (-)deprenyl in age-related neurological diseases. 151 86


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