Current therapies for Alzheimer's disease (AD) offer partial symptomatic relief and do not modify disease progression. There is substantial evidence indicating a disease onset years before clinical diagnosis, at which point no effective therapy has been found. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of a new multi-target drug, M30, at relatively early stages of the AD-like amyloid pathology in a robust rat transgenic model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChronic brain inflammation is associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and is classically attributed to amyloid plaque deposition. However, whether the amyloid pathology can trigger early inflammatory processes before plaque deposition remains a matter of debate. To address the possibility that a pre-plaque inflammatory process occurs, we investigated the status of neuronal, astrocytic, and microglial markers in pre- and post-amyloid plaque stages in a novel transgenic rat model of an AD-like amyloid pathology (McGill-R-Thy1-APP).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLASSBio-767 [(-)-3-O-acetyl-spectaline] and LASSBio-822 [(-)-3-O-tert-Boc-spectaline] were recently described as cholinesterase inhibitors derived from the natural piperidine alkaloid (-)-spectaline, obtained from the flowers of Senna spectabilis (Fabaceae). We investigated their mechanism of inhibition of acetylcholinesterase and their efficacy in reversing scopolamine-induced amnesia. Competition assays with the substrate acetylthiocholine showed a concentration-dependent reduction in rat brain cholinesterase Vmax without changes in apparent Km.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFive new piperidine alkaloids were designed from natural (-)-3-O-acetyl-spectaline and (-)-spectaline that were obtained from the flowers of Senna spectabilis (sin. Cassia spectabilis, Leguminosae). Two semi-synthetic analogues (7 and 9) inhibited rat brain acetylcholinesterase, showing IC50 of 7.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF