Pathophysiological Linkage between Aging and Cognitive Decline: Implications for Dementia Treatment

Abstract

The cardiovascular risk factors for dementia trigger widespread inflammation and oxidative stress. These two interacting processes lead to neurodegeneration, gradual cognitive/memory decline, and eventually (late-onset) dementia. In addition, there is supporting evidence pointing to elevated pulse pressure as a clear risk factor for cognitive decline. Accordingly, an effective therapeutic strategy to delay dementia could be based upon nanotargeting bioactive molecules, using lipid nanocarriers, toward cell-surface scavenger receptors. The resulting nanocarrier therapeutic is likely to be "multitasking", i.e., be capable of entering various target cells. Such targeting behavior of this proposed therapeutic appears likely to provide enhanced efficacy at different stages of dementia.