Alterations in the expression of Reelin (RELN) have been implicated in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, whether these changes are cause or consequence of AD remains to be resolved. To better understand the role of RELN pathway in the development of AD, we examined the expression profile of RELN and its downstream signaling members APOER2, VLDLR, and DAB1 in AD-vulnerable regions of transgenic and wildtype mice as well as in AD patients and controls across disease stages and/or aging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhysical activity protects brain function in healthy individuals and those with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Evidence for beneficial effects of parental exercise on the health status of their progeny is sparse and limited to nondiseased individuals. Here, we questioned whether maternal running interferes with offspring's AD-like pathology and sought to decipher the underlying mechanisms in TgCRND8 mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCombined preventive and therapeutic physical/cognitive stimulation starting before disease onset and continuing over its progression reduce Alzheimer-related pathology in transgenic mice. We now report that exposure of TgCRND8 mice to an enriched environment as either a preventive or therapeutic approach is also capable to reduce Aβ burden, though with different plaque and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) morphology. Preventive treatment resulted in fewer and smaller plaques without affecting CAA, whereas in therapeutically treated mice beside reduction of CAA extent, numerous plaques of strongly diminished size were found, so that total plaque loads declined as well.
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