Four-Dimensional Label-Free Quantitative Proteomics of Ginsenoside Rg2 Ameliorated Scopolamine-Induced Memory Impairment in Mice through the Lysosomal Pathway

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease. Ginsenoside Rg2 has shown potential in treating AD, but the underlying protein regulatory mechanisms associated with ginsenoside Rg2 treatment for AD remain unclear. This study utilized scopolamine to induce memory impairment in mice, and proteomics methods were employed to investigate the potential molecular mechanism of ginsenoside Rg2 in treating AD model mice. The Morris water maze, hematoxylin and eosin staining, and Nissl staining results indicated that ginsenoside Rg2 enhanced cognitive ability and decreased neuronal damage in AD mice. Proteomics, western blot, and immunofluorescence results showed that ginsenoside Rg2 primarily improved AD mice by downregulating the expression of LGMN, LAMP1, and PSAP proteins through the regulation of the lysosomal pathway. Transmission electron microscopy and network pharmacology prediction results showed a potential connection between the mechanism of ginsenoside Rg2 treatment for AD mice and lysosomes. The comprehensive results indicated that ginsenoside Rg2 may improve AD by downregulating LGMN, LAMP1, and PSAP through the regulation of the lysosomal pathway.

Multifunctional Nanocarriers for Alzheimer's Disease: Befriending the Barriers

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) have been increasing in incidence in recent years and are now widespread worldwide. Neuronal death is defined as the progressive loss of neuronal structure or function which is closely associated with NDDs and represents the intrinsic features of such disorders. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's diseases (AD, PD, and HD, respectively) are considered neurodegenerative diseases that affect a large number of people worldwide. Despite the testing of various drugs, there is currently no available therapy that can remedy or effectively slow the progression of these diseases. Nanomedicine has the potential to revolutionize drug delivery for the management of NDDs. The use of nanoparticles (NPs) has recently been developed to improve drug delivery efficiency and is currently subjected to extensive studies. Nanoengineered particles, known as nanodrugs, can cross the blood-brain barrier while also being less invasive compared to the most treatment strategies in use. Polymeric, magnetic, carbonic, and inorganic NPs are examples of NPs that have been developed to improve drug delivery efficiency. Primary research studies using NPs to cure AD are promising, but thorough research is needed to introduce these approaches to clinical use. In the present review, we discussed the role of metal-based NPs, polymeric nanogels, nanocarrier systems such as liposomes, solid lipid NPs, polymeric NPs, exosomes, quantum dots, dendrimers, polymersomes, carbon nanotubes, and nanofibers and surfactant-based systems for the therapy of neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, we highlighted nanoformulations such as N-butyl cyanoacrylate, poly(butyl cyanoacrylate), D-penicillamine, citrate-coated peptide, magnetic iron oxide, chitosan (CS), lipoprotein, ceria, silica, metallic nanoparticles, cholinesterase inhibitors, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, metal chelators, anti-amyloid, protein, and peptide-loaded NPs for the treatment of AD.

Safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and effects of diet on AD16, a novel neuroinflammatory inhibitor for Alzheimer's disease: a randomized phase 1 study

BACKGROUND

AD16 is a Class 1.1 new drug candidate for Alzheimer's disease (AD), which has demonstrated potential benefits in AD by reducing neuroinflammation in preclinical studies. Herein, the pharmacokinetics (PK), safety, and tolerability of single and multiple-dose AD16 and the effect of food were assessed in healthy Chinese adults.

METHODS

Single-center, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind studies were conducted for single and multiple ascending doses. A total of 62 subjects were enrolled in single-dose groups; 10 each in 5, 10, 20, 30, and 40 mg groups, and 6 each in 60 and 80 mg dose groups. Twenty subjects were divided equally into 30 and 40 mg groups for the multiple-dose study. To determine the effect of a high-fat diet on AD16, 16 subjects were administered a single 20 mg dose of AD16 under the fasted and fed condition in a single-center, randomized, open-label, two-cycle, two-crossover study. Moreover, safety and PK parameters were also assessed.

RESULTS

Plasma exposure to a single oral dose of AD16 increased at an approximate dose-increasing rate. The pharmacodynamic dose of the AD16 can be maintained through the accumulation effect of the drug within the safety window. Compared to fasting, ingesting a high-fat meal decelerated the rate of AD16 absorption, albeit without effect on its overall absorption. No dose-related toxicities were seen in any of the studies, all treatment-emergent adverse events were grade I/II, and no serious adverse event occurred.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study exhibited favorable safety, tolerability, and PK profile of AD16, supporting its further research as a potential drug treatment for AD.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov; NCT05787028, NCT05787041, NCT05806177. The SAD and FE studies were retrospectively registered on 28 March 2023. The MAD study was retrospectively registered on 10 April 2023.

Revealing the Mechanisms of Byu dMar 25 in the Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease through Network Pharmacology, Molecular Docking, and In Vivo Experiment

BACKGROUND

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease, severely reducing the cognitive level and life quality of patients. Byu dMar 25 (BM25) has been proved to have a therapeutic effect on AD. However, the pharmacological mechanism is still unclear. Therefore, this study aims to reveal the potential mechanism of BM25 affecting AD from the perspective of network pharmacology and experimental validation.

METHODS

The potential active ingredients of BM25 were obtained from the TCMSP database and literature. Possible targets were predicted using SwissTargetPrediction tools. AD-related genes were identified by using GeneCards, OMIM, DisGeNET, and Drugbank databases. The candidate genes were obtained by extraction of the intersection network. Additionally, the "drug-target-disease" network was constructed by Cytoscape 3.7.2 for visualization. The PPI network was constructed by the STRING database, and the core network modules were filtered by Cytoscape 3.7.2. Enrichment analysis of GO and KEGG was carried out in the Metascape platform. Ledock software was used to dock the critical components with the core target. Furthermore, protein levels were evaluated by immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS

In this study, 112 active components, 1112 disease candidate genes, 3084 GO functions, and 277 KEGG pathways were obtained. Molecular docking showed that the effective components of BM25 in treating AD were β-asarone and hydroxysafflor yellow A. The most important targets were APP, PIK3R1, and PIK3CA. Enrichment analysis indicated that the Golgi genetic regulation, peroxidase activity regulation, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase complex IA, 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor complexes, cancer pathways, and neuroactive ligand-receptor interactions played vital roles against AD. The rat experiment verified that BM25 affected PI3K-Akt pathway activation in AD.

CONCLUSIONS

This study reveals the mechanism of BM25 in treating AD with network pharmacology, which provides a foundation for further study on the molecular mechanism of AD treatment.

High-throughput screening for amyloid-β binding natural small-molecules based on the combinational use of biolayer interferometry and UHPLC−DAD-Q/TOF-MS/MS

Discovery of drugs rapidly and effectively is an important aspect for Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, a novel high-throughput screening (HTS) method aims at screening the small-molecules with amyloid-β (Aβ) binding affinity from natural medicines, based on the combinational use of biolayer interferometry (BLI) and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode-array detector and quadrupole/time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC−DAD-Q/TOF-MS/MS) has been firstly developed. Briefly, the components in natural medicines disassociated from biotinylated Aβ were collected to analyze their potential Aβ binding affinity by UHPLC−DAD-Q/TOF-MS/MS. Here, baicalein was confirmed to exhibit the highest binding affinity with Aβ in Scutellaria baicalensis. Moreover, polyporenic acid C (PPAC), dehydrotumulosic acid (DTA), and tumulosic acid (TA) in Kai-Xin-San (KXS) were also identified as potent Aβ inhibitors. Further bioactivity validations indicated that these compounds could inhibit Aβ fibrillation, improve the viability in Aβ-induced PC-12 cells, and decrease the Aβ content and improve the behavioral ability in Caenorhabditis elegans. The molecular docking results confirmed that PPAC, DTA, and TA possessed good binding properties with Aβ. Collectively, the present study has provided a novel and effective HTS method for the identification of natural inhibitors on Aβ fibrillation, which may accelerate the process on anti-AD drugs discovery and development.

The Burden of Alzheimer's Disease Mortality in the United States, 1999-2018

BACKGROUND

The increasing prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD), along with the associated burden on healthcare systems, presents a substantial public health challenge.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to investigate trends in AD mortality and the relevant burden across the United States (U.S.) from 1999 to 2018 and to predict mortality trends between 2019 and 2023.

METHODS

Data on AD-related deaths between 1999 and 2018 were collected from the WONDER database administered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Joinpoint Regression Program was used to analyze mortality trends due to AD. Years of life lost (YLL) were calculated to explore the burden of AD deaths. An autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model was employed to forecast mortality trends from 2019 to 2023.

RESULTS

Over a recent 20-year period, the number of AD deaths in the U.S. increased from 44,536 (31,145 females and 13,391 males) to 122,019 (84,062 females and 37,957 males). The overall age-adjusted mortality rate increased from 16.5/100,000 in 1999 to 30.5/100,000 in 2018. AD mortality is projected to reach 42.40/100000 within the year 2023. Overall, AD resulted in 322,773.00 YLL (2.33 per 1000 population) in 1999 and 658,501.87 YLL (3.68 per 1000 population) in 2018.

CONCLUSION

Our findings demonstrate an increase in AD mortality in the U.S. from 1999 to 2018 as well as a rapid increase from 2019 to 2023. The high burden of AD deaths emphasizes the need for targeted prevention, early diagnosis, and hierarchical management.

Nanoparticles Based Intranasal Delivery of Drug to Treat Alzheimer's Disease: A Recent Update

Alzheimer Association Report (2019) stated that the 6th primary cause of death in the USA is Alzheimer's Disease (AD), which leads to behaviour and cognitive impairment. Nearly 5.8 million peoples of all ages in the USA have suffered from this disease, including 5.6 million elderly populations. The statistics of the progression of this disease is similar to the global scenario. Still, the treatment of AD is limited to a few conventional oral drugs, which often fail to deliver an adequate amount of the drug in the brain. The reduction in the therapeutic efficacy of an anti-AD drug is due to poor solubility, existence to the blood-brain barrier and low permeability. In this context, nasal drug delivery emerges as a promising route for the delivery of large and small molecular drugs for the treatment of AD. This promising pathway delivers the drug directly into the brain via an olfactory route, which leads to the low systemic side effect, enhanced bioavailability, and higher therapeutic efficacy. However, few setbacks, such as mucociliary clearance and poor drug mucosal permeation, limit its translation from the laboratory to the clinic. The above stated limitation could be overcome by the adaption of nanoparticle as a drug delivery carrier, which may lead to prolong delivery of drugs with better permeability and high efficacy. This review highlights the latest work on the development of promising Nanoparticles (NPs) via the intranasal route for the treatment of AD. Additionally, the current update in this article will draw the attention of the researcher working on these fields and facing challenges in practical applicability.