Alzheimer’s Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment: Emerging Therapeutic Targets and Treatment Strategies

A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Drug Delivery and Controlled Release".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 3909

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
2. Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
Interests: pharmacology; Alzheimer’s disease; depression; epilepsy; pharmacokinetics; intranasal administration; nose-to-brain
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
1. Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutic Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Science, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
2. Biomedical Research Networking Centre in Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), Madrid, Spain
3. Institute of Neuroscience, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Interests: Alzheimer’s disease; APP/PS1; neuroinflammation; dendritic spines; cognitive impairment; high fat diet; metabolic alterations
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common type of neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by progressive impairment of memory and other cognitive functions. AD is preceded by mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a transitional state between normal aging and AD, which is an early warning signal of the pathology.  

As new disease-modifying treatments become available, accurate prognostics are required to guide treatment and evaluate disease progression in patients with MCI and AD. In this regard, the identification of novel pathological biomarkers is a current cornerstone of scientific investigations. Moreover, drug access to the brain is significantly hampered by the blood–brain barrier and, consequently, drug efficacy may be compromised. In this way, novel stratergies for brain delivery must be exploited in MCI and AD.

The scope of this Special Issue includes the recent advances in therapeutic targets as well as new pharmaceutical formulations and drug delivery systems for the treatment of AD and MCI. We also welcome publications that clarify and update the state-of-art of the mechanisms that underlie both pathologies. Translational investigations from both non-clinical and clinical approaches would be of great significance.

Dr. Ana Fortuna
Dr. Miren Ettcheto Arriola
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • mild cognitive impairment
  • pharmacokinetics
  • pharmacodynamics
  • drug formulations
  • brain delivery
  • dendritic spines

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 2261 KiB  
Article
Docosahexaenoic Acid Ameliorates Contextual Fear Memory Deficits in the Tg2576 Alzheimer’s Disease Mouse Model: Cellular and Molecular Correlates
by Sara Badesso, Paz Cartas-Cejudo, Maria Espelosin, Enrique Santamaria, Mar Cuadrado-Tejedor and Ana Garcia-Osta
Pharmaceutics 2023, 15(1), 82; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics15010082 - 27 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1816
Abstract
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), the most abundant polyunsaturated fatty acid in the brain, is essential for successful aging. In fact, epidemiological studies have demonstrated that increased intake of DHA might lower the risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). These observations are supported by studies [...] Read more.
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), the most abundant polyunsaturated fatty acid in the brain, is essential for successful aging. In fact, epidemiological studies have demonstrated that increased intake of DHA might lower the risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). These observations are supported by studies in animal models showing that DHA reduces synaptic pathology and memory deficits. Different mechanisms to explain these beneficial effects have been proposed; however, the molecular pathways involved are still unknown. In this study, to unravel the main underlying molecular mechanisms activated upon DHA treatment, the effect of a high dose of DHA on cognitive function and AD pathology was analyzed in aged Tg2576 mice and their wild-type littermates. Transcriptomic analysis of mice hippocampi using RNA sequencing was subsequently performed. Our results revealed that, through an amyloid-independent mechanism, DHA enhanced memory function and increased synapse formation only in the Tg2576 mice. Likewise, the IPA analysis demonstrated that essential neuronal functions related to synaptogenesis, neuritogenesis, the branching of neurites, the density of dendritic spines and the outgrowth of axons were upregulated upon-DHA treatment in Tg2576 mice. Our results suggest that memory function in APP mice is influenced by DHA intake; therefore, a high dose of daily DHA should be tested as a dietary supplement for AD dementia prevention. Full article
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30 pages, 6241 KiB  
Article
Nosustrophine: An Epinutraceutical Bioproduct with Effects on DNA Methylation, Histone Acetylation and Sirtuin Expression in Alzheimer’s Disease
by Olaia Martínez-Iglesias, Vinogran Naidoo, Iván Carrera, Lola Corzo and Ramón Cacabelos
Pharmaceutics 2022, 14(11), 2447; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics14112447 - 12 Nov 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1531
Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia, causes irreversible memory loss and cognitive deficits. Current AD drugs do not significantly improve cognitive function or cure the disease. Novel bioproducts are promising options for treating a variety of diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders. [...] Read more.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia, causes irreversible memory loss and cognitive deficits. Current AD drugs do not significantly improve cognitive function or cure the disease. Novel bioproducts are promising options for treating a variety of diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders. Targeting the epigenetic apparatus with bioactive compounds (epidrugs) may aid AD prevention treatment. The aims of this study were to determine the composition of a porcine brain-derived extract Nosustrophine, and whether treating young and older trigenic AD mice produced targeted epigenetic and neuroprotective effects against neurodegeneration. Nosustrophine regulated AD-related APOE and PSEN2 gene expression in young and older APP/BIN1/COPS5 mice, inflammation-related (NOS3 and COX-2) gene expression in 3–4-month-old mice only, global (5mC)- and de novo DNA methylation (DNMT3a), HDAC3 expression and HDAC activity in 3–4-month-old mice; and SIRT1 expression and acetylated histone H3 protein levels in 8–9-month-old mice. Mass spectrometric analysis of Nosustrophine extracts revealed the presence of adenosylhomocysteinase, an enzyme implicated in DNA methylation, and nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase, which produces the NAD+ precursor, enhancing SIRT1 activity. Our findings show that Nosustrophine exerts substantial epigenetic effects against AD-related neurodegeneration and establishes Nosustrophine as a novel nutraceutical bioproduct with epigenetic properties (epinutraceutical) that may be therapeutically effective for prevention and early treatment for AD-related neurodegeneration. Full article
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