Tau hyperphosphorylation is one hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. Pharmaceutical companies have thus developed kinase inhibitors aiming to reduce tau hyperphosphorylation. One obstacle in screening for tau kinase inhibitors is the low phosphorylation levels of AD-related phospho-epitopes in normal adult mice and cultured cells. We have shown that hypothermia induces tau hyperphosp...

Hyperphosphorylated microtubule-associated protein tau is the major protein component of neurofibrillary tangles in the brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Until now, there is no effective cure to arrest this hyperphosphorylation. The present study was designed to explore the in vivo preventive effect of melatonin on Alzheimer-like tau hyperphosphorylation. Isoproterenol, a beta-re...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains contain neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) composed of abnormally hyperphosphorylated tau protein. Regional reductions in cerebral glucose metabolism correlating to NFT densities have been reported in AD brains. Assuming that reduced glucose metabolism might cause abnormal tau hyperphosphorylation, we induced in vivo alterations of glucose metabolism in mice by starv...

Tau hyperphosphorylation is an important pathological feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD). To investigate whether escitalopram could inhibit amyloid-β (Aβ)-induced tau hyperphosphorylation and the underlying mechanisms, we treated the rat primary hippocampal neurons with Aβ1-42 and examined the effect of escitalopram on tau hyperphosphorylation. Results showed that escitalopram decreased Aβ1-42...

The axonal microtubule stabilizing protein tau is hyperphosphorylated in several neurodegenerative conditions, including Alzheimer's disease, yet the genes that regulate tau phosphorylation are largely unknown. Disabled-1 (Dab1) is a cytoplasmic adapter protein that interacts with apolipoprotein E (ApoE) receptors and controls neuronal positioning during embryonic brain development. We have inv...

Iranian Traditional Medicine (ITM) describes a kind of dementia with similar signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). It explains the pathology of dementia with cold intemperament of the brain, which means that the brain is colder than its healthy form. ITM strategy for treatment of dementia is to heat the brain up by medical “hot” herbs. Nepeta menthoides (NM) is one of these “hot” herb...

Iranian Traditional Medicine (ITM) describes a kind of dementia with similar signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). It explains the pathology of dementia with cold intemperament of the brain, which means that the brain is colder than its healthy form. ITM strategy for treatment of dementia is to heat the brain up by medical “hot” herbs. Nepeta menthoides (NM) is one of these “hot” herb...

Hyperphosphorylated tau is the major component of paired helical filaments in neurofibrillary tangles found in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains, and tau hyperphosphorylation is thought to be a critical event in the pathogenesis of the disease. The large majority of AD cases is late onset and sporadic in origin, with aging as the most important risk factor. Insulin resistance, impaired glucose to...

Hyperphosphorylation of tau occurs in preclinical and clinical stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and hyperphosphorylated tau is the main constituent of the paired helical filaments in the brains of mild cognitive impairment and AD patients. While most of the work described so far focused on the relationship between hyperphosphorylation of tau and microtubule disassembly as well as axonal tran...

The association of inflammatory proteins with neuritic plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients has led to the hypothesis that inflammation plays a pivotal role in the development of pathology in AD. Earlier studies have shown that alpha 1-antichymotrypsin (ACT) enhances amyloid beta fibrillization and accelerated plaque formation in APP transgenic mice. Later studies from our...