Abstract
Currently, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in humans; treatment is symptomatic only. Aging of the population, together with an unhealthy diet and lifestyle, contribute to the steady, global increase of AD patients. This increase creates significant health, societal and economical challenges even for the most developed countries. AD progresses from an asymptomatic stage to a progressively worsening cognitive impairment. The AD cognitive impairment is underpinned by progressive memory impairment, an increasing inability to recall recent events, to execute recently planned actions, and to learn. These changes prevent the AD patient from leading an independent and fulfilling life. Nanotechnology (NT) enables a new, alternative pathway for development of AD treatment interventions. At present, the NT treatments for attenuation of AD memory impairment are at the animal model stage. Over the past four years, there has been a steady increase in publications of AD animal models with a wide variety of original NT treatment interventions, able to attenuate memory impairment. NT therapy development, in animal models of AD, is faced with the twin challenges of the nature of AD, a chronic impairment, unique to human, of the tau protein and A β peptides that regulate several key physiological brain processes, and the incomplete understanding of AD′s aetiology. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art in NT based treatments for AD memory impairment in animal models and discusses the future work for translation to the successful treatment of AD cognitive impairment in human.
Highlights
There is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in humans; treatment is symptomatic only
nano particles (NPs) can be used either for disease diagnosis or for treatment. They can bind with a wide variety of desired ligands to acquire new diagnostic, therapeutic or physiological properties, including the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) [1]
The key process enabling memory retention is the conversion of short-term memory (STM) to long-term memory (LTM)
Summary
Nanotechnology (NT) provides a new approach to develop alternative drug delivery treatments for all stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The NPs have several advantages compared to traditional drug delivery compounds They have a very small size with a high surface-to-volume ratio that facilitates interactions with biomolecules. NPs can be used either for disease diagnosis or for treatment They can bind with a wide variety of desired ligands (by adsorbing, entrapping or covalent bonding) to acquire new diagnostic, therapeutic or physiological properties, including the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) [1]. Research has shifted to a multifactorial aetiology approach to AD, recognising the unique temporal contributions of (a) Aβ1-42 accumulation, formation and accumulation of toxic, soluble Aβ oligomers (AβOs); (b) the binding of zinc, copper, and iron cations to Aβ1-42 peptides that accelerates formation of NPs are increasingly recognized as promising candidates for new AD therapies [3,4,6,17]. (c) the attenuation of neuroinflammation; (d) the attenuation of tau hyperphosphorylation; (e) the development of anti-Aβ peptide antibodies loaded on circulating NPs that initiate ‘the sink mechanism’, by removing the soluble Aβ peptides from the brain to the blood circulation
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