Brain Connections in Alzheimer's Rebuilt with New Peptide

Caregivers, and healthcare professionals, here is some great information

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professionals,

Your residents will love the Amazon Kindle Fire

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care  professionals to get an easyceu or two

Follow alzheimersideas on twitter

The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition

genen.com

Scientists have developed a small peptide that they say can reverse some of the cognitive repercussions of neurodegenerative and potentially trauma-related brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, by increasing synaptogenesis. The peptide, called dihexa, is a stabilized derivative of angiotensin IV (AngIV), a peptide that, together with some of its analogs, is recognized as a precognitive agent that could feasibly be used as a treatment for neurodegenerative diseases, but in its native form it can’t cross the blood-brain barrier and isn’t stable enough to have any utility in a clinical setting.

Washington State University’s Joseph W. Harding, Ph.D., Alene T. McCoy, Ph.D., and colleagues based their development on prior work demonstrating that the three terminal amino acids of AngIV and its analog Norleucine1-angiotensin IV (Nle1-AngIV) are central to the precognitive activities of the peptides. The team thus set out to develop much smaller, more stable derivatives of Nle1-AngIV that retained the active structure but could be administered orally and cross the blood-brain barrier.

The resulting lead compound, dihexia (N-hexanoic-Tyr-Ile-(6) aminohexanoic amide) not only fulfilled these requirements, but proved to be active at picomolar concentrations, and led to dramatic improvements in the cognitive abilities of a scopolamine-treated rat model of learning deficits, and also aged Sprague-Dawley rats. Scopolamine-treated rats are a well-used model of spatial memory dysfunction that demonstrate memory-related problems mirroring those of early-to-middle-stage Alzheimer’s disease patients, but in these animals cognitive impairments are acutely induced. In contrast, aged Sprague-Dawley rats are a more physiologically relevant model of dementia.

Importantly, the treatment was effective whether the animals received it directly into the brain, via injection, or orally. Further analyses indicated that dihexia’s precognitive activity was associated with a drug-induced stimulation of dendritic spinogenesis in the hippocampal brain region, and that the newly formed dendritic spins were creating functional synapses. Encouragingly, dihexia was even more potent than brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a growth-promoting protein that is used to create neuronal connections, but which hasn’t yet been developed for therapeutic use.

“At its core dementia results from a combination of diminished synaptic connectivity among neurons and neuronal death in the entorhinal cortex, hippocampus, and neocortex,” the researchers note in their published paper in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. However, previous attempts to develop protein neurotrophic factors as therapeutics has been limited by their inability to cross the blood-brain barrier, and the need to manufacture such agents by recombinant methods, which is costly. “The development of dihexa has seemingly overcome these impediments by virtue of its oral activity, demonstrated pro-cognitive/anti-dementia activity, and anticipated low manufacturing costs.”

Drs. Harding and McCoy et al describe their development of dihexia, and rodent studies, in a paper titled “Evaluation of Metabolically Stabilized Angiotensin IV Analogs as Pro-Cognitive/Anti-Dementia Agents.”

Potassium, calcium, magnesium intakes linked to reduced risk of dementia

Caregivers, and healthcare professionals, here is some great information

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Your residents will love the Amazon Kindle Fire

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care  professionals to get an easyceu or two

Follow alzheimersideas on twitter

The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition

FoodConsumer

By David Liu, PHD

 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study in Journal of American Geriatrics Society suggests that taking potassium, calcium and magnesium supplements or eating foods high in these minerals may help prevent some forms of dementia, but not Alzheimer's disease.

The study led by M. Ozawa of Kyushu University om Fukuoka Japan and colleagues showed that all-cause dementia was 48 percent, 36 percent, and 37 percent less likely among people with highest intakes of potassium, calcium, and magnesium, respectively, compared to those who had low levels.

A total of 1081 community dwelling Japanese people without dementia aged 60 or older participated in the study in which 303 participants were found to have all-cause dementia including 98 vascular dementia and 166 Alzheimer's disease during a 17-year follow-up.

Participants who had highest intakes of potassium, calcium and magnesium were 80 percent, 77 percent and 74 percent less likely to develop vascular dementia, respectively, compared to those who had lowest intakes.

But these minerals were not associated with risk of Alzheimer's disease.

The researchers concluded that high dietary intakes of potassium,calcium, and magnesium reduce risk of all cause dementia, particularly vascular dementia in the general Japanese population.

Alzheimer's disease is a major form of dementia affecting an estimated 5 million Americans. There is no cure for Alzheimer's but research suggests that the disease is preventable.

Vaccine nasal spray may prevent Alzheimer's

clinical studiesHere is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care professionals to get an easyceu or two

Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities



Now, researchers led by Dr. Dan Frenkel, Tel Aviv U, are working on a vaccine that promises to protect against Alzheimer’s and stroke by repairing vascular damage in the brain, even when symptoms of the disease are present. The drug works by inducing “an immune response against amyloid proteins in the blood vessels," says Frenkel, who adds, "In early pre-clinical studies, we've found it can prevent both brain tissue damage and restore cognitive impairment.” Plus, the drug may prevent hemorrhagic strokes. The vaccine has been successfully tested on animals and Frenkel is hopeful that this new approach may lead to a cure.