The study by researchers from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital – The Neuro, at McGill University and at Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al found that blocking the activity of a specific receptor in the brain of mice with advanced Alzheimer\u2019s disease (AD) recovers memory and cerebrovascular function<\/strong>. The results, published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation<\/em> in May, also suggest an underlying mechanism of AD as a potential target for new therapies.<\/p>\n \u201cThe exciting and important aspect of this study is that even animals with advanced pathology can be rescued with this molecule\u201d says Dr. Edith Hamel, neuroscientist at The Neuro and lead investigator on the paper in collaboration with Dr R\u00e9jean Couture at the Department of Physiology at Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al. \u201cWe have rarely seen this type of reversal of AD symptoms before in our mouse model at this advanced age \u2013 when mice have been developing AD for one year<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n The researchers found an increased level of a receptor known as bradykinin B1 receptor (B1R) in the brain of mice with AD, a receptor involved in inflammation. \u00a0\u201cBy administering a molecule that selectively blocks the action of this receptor, we observed important improvements in both cognitive and cerebrovascular function<\/strong>,\u201d says Dr. Baptiste Lacoste, research fellow who conducted the study at The Neuro and now pursuing his training at Harvard Medical School in Boston.<\/p>\n \u201cAlzheimer\u2019s disease destroys nerve cells and also compromises the function of blood vessels in the brain<\/strong>. Not only were there improvements in learning and memory, but also marked recovery in blood flow and vascular reactivity, i.e. the ability of cerebral vessels to dilate or constrict when necessary.\u201d Proper functioning of blood vessels in the brain is vital to providing nutrients and oxygen to nerve cells, and vascular diseases represent important risk factors for developing AD at an advanced age.x<\/p>\n \u201cAnother interesting result that has not been seen before in our mouse model is a reduction by over 50% of toxic amyloid-beta peptide,\u201d adds Dr. Hamel. \u00a0\u201cIn Alzheimer\u2019s disease, protein fragments called amyloid-beta have a deleterious effect on the blood and nervous systems<\/strong>. Normally, these protein fragments are broken down and removed. In Alzheimer\u2019s disease, the protein fragments clump together \u2014 a factor believed to contribute to neuronal and vascular dysfunction. We are not sure if these decreases contribute to the functional recovery, but we hope that our findings will aid in clarifying this issue and identifying new targets for therapeutic approaches.\u201d<\/p>\n The results show that an increase in B1R is associated with amyloid-beta plaques in Alzheimer\u2019s disease mice with impaired memory, and that chronic blockade of B1R significantly improves learning, memory, cerebrovascular function, and several other pathological AD hallmarks in mice with a fully developed pathology. Together, these findings confirm a role of B1R in AD pathogenesis and the role of neuroinflammation as an underlying mechanism in AD<\/strong>. The next step would be to further investigate potential blockers of the bradykinin B1R as a potential treatment for AD in humans.<\/p>\n This study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and a postdoctoral fellowship award from the Alzheimer Society of Canada.<\/p>\n Link to the study: \u00a0http:\/\/www.jneuroinflammation.com\/content\/10\/1\/57\/abstract<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital press release via EurekAlert!: A new study shows that memory pathology in older mice with Alzheimer\u2019s disease can be reversed with treatment. The… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[321,4,6],"tags":[195,42,194],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14102"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14102"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14318,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14102\/revisions\/14318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"brain](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/brain_scan.jpg\")
A new study shows that memory pathology in older mice with Alzheimer\u2019s disease can be reversed with treatment<\/strong>.<\/p>\n