Introduction: Evidence suggests that neuronal apoptosis in neurodegenerative diseases is correlated with inflammatory reactions. The beneficial or detrimental role of apoptosis in neuroinflammation is unclear. Elucidating this question may be helpful in management of neurodegenerative diseases. Since TNF-α is able to induce apoptosis as well as increased viability of the cells by activation ...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide deposition in brain parenchyma as plaques and in cerebral blood vessels as cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). CAA deposition leads to several clinical complications, including intracerebral hemorrhage. The underlying molecular mechanisms that regulate plaque and CAA deposition in the vast majority of sporadic AD patients remain...

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are effective therapies for leukaemia. Alzheimer is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by accumulation of β-amyloid (plaques) and hyper-phosphorylated Tau (tangles). Here we show that AD animals have high levels of insoluble parkin and decreased parkin-Beclin-1 interaction, while peripheral administration of TKIs, including Nilotinib and Bosutinib, incre...

Peptide/protein hormones could be stored as non-toxic amyloid-like structures in pituitary secretory granules. ACTH and β-endorphin are two of the important peptide hormones that get co-stored in the pituitary secretory granules. Here, we study molecular interactions between ACTH and β-endorphin and their colocalization in the form of amyloid aggregates. Although ACTH is known to be a part of A...

Objective(s): Increasing evidence suggests that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is associated with diabetes. Rosiglitazone, a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPAR-γ) agonist and anti-diabetic agent, may improve symptoms of AD. However, the underlying therapeutic potential of it has not been fully elucidated. Materials and Methods: Rats were divided into four groups: control group, sham o...

Islet amyloid accumulation is a hallmark of human type 2 diabetes (T2D). In contrast to human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP), murine islet amyloid polypeptide (mIAPP) does not exhibit amyloidogenic propensity. Because autophagy is important in the clearance of amyloid-like proteins, we studied transgenic mice with β cell-specific expression of hIAPP to evaluate the contribution of autophagy ...

Abnormal elevation of amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) levels in the brain is the primary trigger for neuronal cell death specific to Alzheimer's disease (AD). It is now evident that Aβ levels in the brain are manipulable due to a dynamic equilibrium between its production from the amyloid precursor protein (APP) and removal by amyloid clearance proteins. Clearance can be either enzymic or non-enzymic (b...

A FRET-based sensor protein presenting amyloid-like structures was successfully constructed for detecting the oligomeric assemblies of amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) wild-type and FAD-related mutants.

Since 1998, a great deal of progress has been made towards determining and understanding the molecular structures of amyloid fibrils, including fibrils formed by the β-amyloid peptide that is associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Much of this progress has resulted from solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements, which provide experimental constraints on molecular conformations and...

The polymorphic β-amyloid lesions present in individuals with Alzheimer's disease are collectively known as cerebral β-amyloidosis. Amyloid precursor protein (APP) transgenic mouse models similarly develop β-amyloid depositions that differ in morphology, binding of amyloid conformation-sensitive dyes, and Aβ40/Aβ42 peptide ratio. To determine the nature of such β-amyloid morphotypes, β-amyloid-...