The role of growth factors and neuropeptides in alzheimer's disease

✍ Scribed by G. K. Wilcock

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 377 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6222
• DOI: 10.1002/hup.470090505

✦ Synopsis

A number of important neurotransmitter deficiencies have been described in Alzheimer's disease, the commonest cause of dementia in people at all ages. Particularly marked is the depletion of acetylcholine, and a number of treatments have been developed which are aimed at correcting this biochemical deficiency, so far with varying success. An afternative strategy involves the use of neurotrophic compounds to try and prevent or retard the loss of cholinergic cells, reducing the magnitude of acetylcholine depletion. A number of different neurotrophic compounds are exciting interest in this context, especially Nerve Growth Factor (NGF). Animal and tissue culture studies support a neuroprotective role for NGF in relation to cholinergic neurons and human recombinant NGF is being produced with a view to small scale clinical trials in the not too distant future. The 'active' parts of the NGF molecule are being identified to enable the development of simpler molecules with biological activity that may more easily penetrate the blood-brain barrier. Other members of the neurotrophin family are also under investigation as potential treatments for a range of neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease.