It is not the possession of truth, but the success which attends the seeking after it, that enriches the seeker and brings happiness to him. Paraschiv and Ute Schad for all the help they gave me, Reinhold Weber for the organization and expert group leading in the Swiss Alps. Livia and Ioana for their support and the wonderful time spent together. Last but not least I wish to thank and to expres...

In this issue of Neuron, McGowan et al. report on a new mouse model of amyloid deposition as occurs in Alzheimer's disease. Unlike previous models in which overexpression of the amyloid precursor protein results in amyloid plaque formation, McGowan et al. have produced mice that overexpress only Abeta40 or Abeta42 and prove that Abeta42 is critical for the formation of amyloid deposits in vivo.

Prodomains of A disintegrin and metalloproteinase (ADAM) metallopeptidases can act as highly specific intra- and intermolecular inhibitors of ADAM catalytic activity. The mouse ADAM9 prodomain (proA9; amino acids 24-204), expressed and characterized from Escherichia coli, is a competitive inhibitor of human ADAM9 catalytic/disintegrin domain with an overall inhibition constant of 280 ± 34 nM an...

The amyloid precursor protein (APP) must fulfill important roles based on its sequence conservation from fly to human. Although multiple functions for APP have been proposed, the best-known role for this protein is as the precursor of Abeta peptide, a neurotoxic 39-43-amino acid peptide crucial to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. To investigate additional roles for APP with an eye towar...

The main component of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) senile plaques is amyloid-b peptide (Ab), a proteolytic fragment of the amyloid precursor protein (APP). Platelets contain both APP and Ab and may contribute to the perivascular amyloid deposition seen in AD. However, no data are available concerning the biochemical mechanism(s) involved in their formation and release by these cells. We found that ...

Houshiheisan is composed of wind-dispelling (chrysanthemun flower, divaricate saposhnikovia root, Manchurian wild ginger, cassia twig, Szechwan lovage rhizome, and platycodon root) and deficiency-nourishing (ginseng, Chinese angelica, large-head atractylodes rhizome, Indian bread, and zingiber) drugs. In this study, we assumed these drugs have protective effects against cerebral ischemia, on ne...

........................................................................................... xv Chapter I – Amyloid precursor protein and its relationship to axonal transport . 1 Chapter II – Mutations at the β-secretase cleavage site of APP mediates its axonal transport ................................................................................... 10 Abstract .................................

BACKGROUND Amyloid precursor protein (APP) undergoes cleavage under physiological conditions, predominantly by α- and γ-secretases, to form the nonpathogenic sAPPα and p3 fragments. By contrast, amyloid-beta (Aβ) is produced via proteolytic cleavage by β- and γ-secretases. In Alzheimer's disease (AD), APP is preferentially processed via the amyloidogenic pathway, producing large amounts of Aβ t...

While the Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) plays a central role in Alzheimer's disease, its cellular function still remains largely unclear. It was our goal to establish APP function which will provide insights into APP's implication in Alzheimer's disease. Using our recently developed proteo-liposome assay we established the interactome of APP's intracellular domain (known as AICD), thereby ide...