Evaluation of the effects of new peptide compounds in experimental animals with a toxic model of Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract

Development of new approaches to the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an actual problem of modern neurology owing to high prevalence of AD in the population and severe irreversible disability resulting from this disease. We investigated the effects of new peptide compounds, β-casomorphin-7 and colostrinin, in two complementary AD models in rats (with injection of β-amyloid into the nucleus basalis of Meynert and injection of streptozocin in the ventricles of the brain). Peptides were injected intranasally within 10 days after the onset of AD symptoms induced by neurotoxins. Injection of β-casomorphin-7 and colostrinin had similar effect on the behavior and cognitive function of rats with both amyloid and streptozocin AD model: there was statistically significant increase in locomotor activity and orienting responses, as well as improvement of animals’ cognitive functions. Colostrinin had stronger positive effect on the behavior of rats with induced AD, whereas β-casomorphin-7 had an effect on both sham-operated and model animals, which is indicative of the general neurotropic potential of this peptide. The proposed experimental approaches improve the capabilitiesof investigation of novel biologically active compounds aimed at prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.