Accumulations of insoluble deposits of amyloid β-peptide are major pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer disease. Amyloid β-peptide is derived by sequential proteolytic processing from a large type I trans-membrane protein, the β-amyloid precursor protein. The proteolytic enzymes involved in its processing are named secretases. β- and γ-secretase liberate by sequential cleavage the neurotoxic amy...

1) Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in central nervous system are thought to be new targets for Alzheimer’s disease. However, the most involved nicotinic receptor subtype in Alzheimer’s disease is unclear. a4b2 receptor is the most widely spread subtype in brain, involving in several important aspects of cognitive and other functions. We constructed cell line by transfecting human amyloid prec...

Transgenic mice over-expressing mutant human amyloid precursor protein (PDAPP mouse) develop several Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-like lesions including an age-related accumulation of amyloid-?-containing neuritic plaques. Although aged, heterozygous PDAPP mice also exhibit synaptic and glial cell changes, that is characteristic of AD pathology, no evidence of neurodegeneration has been observed. T...

The β-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) is an important regulator for the production of amyloid plaques, a characteristic of the Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brain. The proteolytic cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP), by BACE1, produces an insoluble amyloid-β (Aβ) fragment which has the ability to aggregate and migrate onto the dendrites and cell body of neuronal ...

The gene encoding the beta-amyloid precursor protein has been assigned to human chromosome 21, as has a gene responsible for at least some cases of familial Alzheimer disease. Linkage studies strongly suggest that the beta-amyloid precursor protein and the product corresponding to familial Alzheimer disease are from two genes, or at least that several million base pairs of DNA separate the mark...

Background Astrocytes are specialized glial cells that when exposed to inflammatory factors go through a process known as reactive astrogliosis. Reactive astrocytes neuropathological feature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The etiology AD is often explained by the accumulation β-amyloid peptides, proteolytic product amyloid precursor protein (APP). However, inflammation also plays prominent role i...

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Minocycline is a second-generation tetracycline that effectively crosses the blood-brain barrier. It has remarkable neuroprotective qualities in models of cerebral ischaemia, traumatic brain injury, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s diseases. However, there is no evidence about neuroprotective effects of minocycline on AD. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized neurop...