Alzheimer's Disease: Cellular and Molecular Aspects of Amyloid beta

Alzheimer's Disease: Cellular and Molecular Aspects of Amyloid beta
Author: J. Robin Harris
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 442
Release: 2004-12-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780387232256

To understand Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the major thrusts of present-day clinical research, strongly supported by more fimdamental cellular, biochemical, immunological and structural studies. It is these latter that receive attention within this book. This compilation of 20 chapters indicates the diversity of work currently in progress and summarizes the current state of knowledge. Experienced authors who are scientifically active in their fields of study have been selected as contributors to this book, in an attempt to present a reasonably complete survey of the field. Inevitably, some exciting topics for one reason or another have not been included, for which we can only apologize. Standardization of terminology is often a problem in science, not least in the Alzheimer field; editorial effort has been made to achieve standardization between the Chapters, but some minor yet acceptable personal / author variation is still present, i. e. P-amyloid/amyloid-P; Ap42/Apl-42/APi. 42! The book commences with a broad survey of the contribution that the range of available microscopical techniques has made to the study of Alzheimer's amyloid plaques and amyloid fibrillogenesis. This chapter also serves as an Introduction to the book, since several of the topics introduced here are expanded upon in later chapters. Also, it is significant to the presence of this chapter that the initial discovery of brain plaques, by Alois Alzheimer, utilized light microscopy, a technique that continues to be extremely valuable in present-day AD research.

The Biology of Alzheimer Disease

The Biology of Alzheimer Disease
Author: Dennis J. Selkoe
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Perspective
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9781936113446

Alzheimer disease causes the gradual deterioration of cognitive function, including severe memory loss and impairments in abstraction and reasoning. Understanding the complex changes that occur in the brain as the disease progressesincluding the accumulation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tanglesis critical for the development of successful therapeutic approaches. Written and edited by leading experts in the field, this collection from Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine includes contributions covering all aspects of Alzheimer disease, from our current molecular understanding to therapeutic agents that could be used to treat and, ultimately, prevent it. Contributors discuss the biochemistry and cell biology of amyloid -protein precursor (APP), tau, presenilin, -secretase, and apolipoprotein E and their involvement in Alzheimer disease. They also review the clinical, neuropathological, imaging, and biomarker phenotypes of the disease; genetic alterations associated with the disorder; and epidemiological insights into its causation and pathogenesis. This comprehensive volume, which includes discussions of therapeutic strategies that are currently used or under development, is a vital reference for neurobiologists, cell biologists, pathologists, and other scientists pursuing the biological basis of Alzheimer disease, as well as investigators, clinicians, and students interested in its pathogenesis, treatment, and prevention.

Advances in Research on Neurodegeneration

Advances in Research on Neurodegeneration
Author: Y. Mizuno
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1997-07-22
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9783211829349

Neurodegeneration is one of the most important subjects of the investigation now and in the coming 21st century. Alzheimer's disease is the leading cause of dementia in the elderly people and Parkinson's disease is one of the major neurologic disorders with the prevalence between 1 and 2/1 000 population in advanced countries. Many others are suffering from intractable neurodegener ative disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington's disease, or spinocerebellar degeneration. No truly effective treatment is available for any of these neurodegenerative disorders except for Parkinson's disease; even in Parkinson's disease, still it is impossible to slow down the disease process with the currently available treatment. It is urgently needed to develop new effective technique to halt or slow down the disease process in each of those disorders. Recent advance in the molecular biological and molecular genetic technique has brought us great progress in the understanding of etiology and pathogenesis of these disorders, but still it is not known how neurons are going to die in these disorders. To explore the question, mutual cooperation and exchange of ideas between basic scientists and clinical peoples are of utmost importance.

The Molecular and Cellular Basis of Neurodegenerative Diseases

The Molecular and Cellular Basis of Neurodegenerative Diseases
Author: Michael S. Wolfe
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 561
Release: 2018-03-29
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0128113057

The Molecular and Cellular Basis of Neurodegenerative Diseases: Underlying Mechanisms presents the pathology, genetics, biochemistry and cell biology of the major human neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, frontotemporal dementia, ALS, Huntington's, and prion diseases. Edited and authored by internationally recognized leaders in the field, the book's chapters explore their pathogenic commonalities and differences, also including discussions of animal models and prospects for therapeutics. Diseases are presented first, with common mechanisms later. Individual chapters discuss each major neurodegenerative disease, integrating this information to offer multiple molecular and cellular mechanisms that diseases may have in common. This book provides readers with a timely update on this rapidly advancing area of investigation, presenting an invaluable resource for researchers in the field. - Covers the spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases and their complex genetic, pathological, biochemical and cellular features - Focuses on leading hypotheses regarding the biochemical and cellular dysfunctions that cause neurodegeneration - Details features, advantages and limitations of animal models, as well as prospects for therapeutic development - Authored by internationally recognized leaders in the field - Includes illustrations that help clarify and consolidate complex concepts

Mitochondrial Dysfunction

Mitochondrial Dysfunction
Author: Lawrence H. Lash
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 527
Release: 2013-10-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1483218619

Methods in Toxicology, Volume 2: Mitochondrial Dysfunction provides a source of methods, techniques, and experimental approaches for studying the role of abnormal mitochondrial function in cell injury. The book discusses the methods for the preparation and basic functional assessment of mitochondria from liver, kidney, muscle, and brain; the methods for assessing mitochondrial dysfunction in vivo and in intact organs; and the structural aspects of mitochondrial dysfunction are addressed. The text also describes chemical detoxification and metabolism as well as specific metabolic reactions that are especially important targets or indicators of damage. The methods for measurement of alterations in fatty acid and phospholipid metabolism and for the analysis and manipulation of oxidative injury and antioxidant systems are also considered. The book further tackles additional methods on mitochondrial energetics and transport processes; approaches for assessing impaired function of mitochondria; and genetic and developmental aspects of mitochondrial disease and toxicology. The text also looks into mitochondrial DNA synthesis, covalent binding to mitochondrial DNA, DNA repair, and mitochondrial dysfunction in the context of developing individuals and cellular differentiation. Microbiologists, toxicologists, biochemists, and molecular pharmacologists will find the book invaluable.

Alzheimer's Disease: Cellular and Molecular Aspects of Amyloid beta

Alzheimer's Disease: Cellular and Molecular Aspects of Amyloid beta
Author: J. Robin Harris
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2006-11-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0387232265

To understand Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the major thrusts of present-day clinical research, strongly supported by more fimdamental cellular, biochemical, immunological and structural studies. It is these latter that receive attention within this book. This compilation of 20 chapters indicates the diversity of work currently in progress and summarizes the current state of knowledge. Experienced authors who are scientifically active in their fields of study have been selected as contributors to this book, in an attempt to present a reasonably complete survey of the field. Inevitably, some exciting topics for one reason or another have not been included, for which we can only apologize. Standardization of terminology is often a problem in science, not least in the Alzheimer field; editorial effort has been made to achieve standardization between the Chapters, but some minor yet acceptable personal / author variation is still present, i. e. P-amyloid/amyloid-P; Ap42/Apl-42/APi. 42! The book commences with a broad survey of the contribution that the range of available microscopical techniques has made to the study of Alzheimer's amyloid plaques and amyloid fibrillogenesis. This chapter also serves as an Introduction to the book, since several of the topics introduced here are expanded upon in later chapters. Also, it is significant to the presence of this chapter that the initial discovery of brain plaques, by Alois Alzheimer, utilized light microscopy, a technique that continues to be extremely valuable in present-day AD research.

Apolipoprotein E and Alzheimer’s Disease

Apolipoprotein E and Alzheimer’s Disease
Author: A.D. Roses
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 3642801099

There is now considerable genetic evidence that the type 4 allele of the apolipoprotein E gene is a major susceptibility factor associated with late-onset Alzheimer's disease, the common form of the disease defined as starting after sixty years of age. The role of apolipoprotein E in normal brain metabolism and in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease are new and exciting avenues of research. This book, written by the most outstanding scientists in this new filed, is the first presentation of results concerning the implications of apolipoprotein E on the genetics, cell biology, neuropathology, biochemistry, and therapeutic management of Alzheimer's disease.

Amyloid Proteins

Amyloid Proteins
Author: Einar M. Sigurdsson
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 390
Release: 2008-02-02
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1592598749

A proven collection of readily reproducible techniques for studying amyloid proteins and their involvement in the etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and therapy of amyloid diseases. The contributors provide methods for the preparation of amyloid and its precursors (oligomers and protofibrils), in vitro assays and analytical techniques for their study, and cell culture models and assays for the production of amyloid proteins. Additional chapters present readily reproducible techniques for amyloid extraction from tissue, its detection in vitro and in vivo, as well as nontransgenic methods for developing amyloid mouse models. The protocols follow the successful Methods in Molecular BiologyTM series format, each offering step-by-step laboratory instructions, an introduction outlining the principle behind the technique, lists of the necessary equipment and reagents, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls.

Tau oligomers

Tau oligomers
Author: Jesus Avila
Publisher: Frontiers E-books
Total Pages: 114
Release: 2014-08-18
Genre: Medicine (General)
ISBN: 288919261X

Neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) composed of intracellular aggregates of tau protein are a key neuropathological feature of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative diseases, collectively termed tauopathies. The abundance of NFTs has been reported to correlate positively with the severity of cognitive impairment in AD. However, accumulating evidences derived from studies of experimental models have identified that NFTs themselves may not be neurotoxic. Now, many of tau researchers are seeking a “toxic” form of tau protein. Moreover, it was suggested that a “toxic” tau was capable to seed aggregation of native tau protein and to propagate in a prion-like manner. However, the exact neurotoxic tau species remain unclear. Because mature tangles seem to be non-toxic component, “tau oligomers” as the candidate of “toxic” tau have been investigated for more than one decade. In this topic, we will discuss our consensus of “tau oligomers” because the term of “tau oligomers” [e.g. dimer (disulfide bond-dependent or independent), multimer (more than dimer), granular (definition by EM or AFM) and maybe small filamentous aggregates] has been used by each researchers definition. From a biochemical point of view, tau protein has several unique characteristics such as natively unfolded conformation, thermo-stability, acid-stability, and capability of post-translational modifications. Although tau protein research has been continued for a long time, we are still missing the mechanisms of NFT formation. It is unclear how the conversion is occurred from natively unfolded protein to abnormally mis-folded protein. It remains unknown how tau protein can be formed filaments [e.g. paired helical filament (PHF), straight filament and twisted filament] in cells albeit in vitro studies confirmed tau self-assembly by several inducing factors. Researchers are still debating whether tau oligomerization is primary event rather than tau phosphorylation in the tau pathogenesis. Inhibition of either tau phosphorylation or aggregation has been investigated for the prevention of tauopathies, however, it will make an irrelevant result if we don’t know an exact target of neurotoxicity. It is a time to have a consensus of definition, terminology and methodology for the identification of “tau oligomers”.

Magnesium in the Central Nervous System

Magnesium in the Central Nervous System
Author: Robert Vink
Publisher: University of Adelaide Press
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2011
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0987073052

The brain is the most complex organ in our body. Indeed, it is perhaps the most complex structure we have ever encountered in nature. Both structurally and functionally, there are many peculiarities that differentiate the brain from all other organs. The brain is our connection to the world around us and by governing nervous system and higher function, any disturbance induces severe neurological and psychiatric disorders that can have a devastating effect on quality of life. Our understanding of the physiology and biochemistry of the brain has improved dramatically in the last two decades. In particular, the critical role of cations, including magnesium, has become evident, even if incompletely understood at a mechanistic level. The exact role and regulation of magnesium, in particular, remains elusive, largely because intracellular levels are so difficult to routinely quantify. Nonetheless, the importance of magnesium to normal central nervous system activity is self-evident given the complicated homeostatic mechanisms that maintain the concentration of this cation within strict limits essential for normal physiology and metabolism. There is also considerable accumulating evidence to suggest alterations to some brain functions in both normal and pathological conditions may be linked to alterations in local magnesium concentration. This book, containing chapters written by some of the foremost experts in the field of magnesium research, brings together the latest in experimental and clinical magnesium research as it relates to the central nervous system. It offers a complete and updated view of magnesiums involvement in central nervous system function and in so doing, brings together two main pillars of contemporary neuroscience research, namely providing an explanation for the molecular mechanisms involved in brain function, and emphasizing the connections between the molecular changes and behavior. It is the untiring efforts of those magnesium researchers who have dedicated their lives to unraveling the mysteries of magnesiums role in biological systems that has inspired the collation of this volume of work.