Ruth Perez on Parkinson's Researchers Pumped by Trial; L-DOPA Makes Synapses Hyperactive

COMMENT These papers provide support for Parkinson's disease therapies and a basis for understanding L-DOPA's iatrogenic effects. It is curious that the GDNF recovery of function proceeded even as brain deterioration progressed. perezrg 0

Julie Andersen on Ironing out the Role of Metals in Neurodegenerative Diseases

COMMENT The very interesting review article by Burdette and Lippard addresses recent advances in understanding the molecular mechanisms of metal ion function in the nervous system, including the roles of potassium, calcium, and particularly zinc in various neuron

Fred Van Leuven on Capillary and arterial cerebral amyloid angiopathy in Alzheimer's disease: defining the perivascular route for the elimination of amyloid beta from the human brain.

COMMENT pathway of clearing Aβ from the brain, as expressed in my recent comment on this site (See news, "Aβ,

Boon-Seng Wong on Prion infection impairs copper binding of cultured cells.

COMMENT The paper by Rachidi et al is a confirmation of our earlier study on human prion diseases. For this paper, the authors provided evidence that PrP populations in an infected cellular environment failed to bind copper. While the mechanisms involved in this

Roland Pochet on Sulindac sulfide is a noncompetitive gamma-secretase inhibitor that preferentially reduces Abeta 42 generation.

COMMENT Drug discovery within the field of neuroinflammation is a research orientation which should be promoted. 0 rpochet

Armenio Farias on Prospective study of alcohol consumption and risk of dementia in older adults.

COMMENT In my clinical experience, my patients with alcoholism complain of loss of memory and seizures too. Therapeutics with new drugs like rivastigmine do not alter memory problems. In this article, no distinction is made between vascular problems and alochol a

Gerard Drewes on Membrane topology of gamma-secretase component PEN-2.

COMMENT Pen2 is a 101-residue molecule with two predicted transmembrane domains. Topology models predict that the N- and C-termini are cytosolic, which places the small loop between the transmembrane domains in the extracellular side, and this is the way most peo

Jason Shepherd on Does Aβ Normally Rein in Excited Synapses?

COMMENT The normal role of AβPP and Aβ in the brain has been one of the most puzzling problems for the Alzheimer’s field, and even after years of effort, this problem remains unsolved. In today’s Neuron, Kamenetz et al. provide evidence for the role of Aβ in regu

Ashley Bush on Metal binding and oxidation of amyloid-beta within isolated senile plaque cores: Raman microscopic evidence.

COMMENT This is a very important paper, establishing the unequivocal binding of zinc and copper to β-amyloid in actual plaques in AD tissue. Confirming earlier in-vitro structural findings (1-5), Zn and Cu coordinate Aβ subunits into an oligomeric assembly mediat

Tomiichiro Oda on beta-Amyloid-specific upregulation of stearoyl coenzyme A desaturase-1 in macrophages.

COMMENT The compounds RS-1178 and others as yet undisclosed are available for licensing upon request. Contact shigek@shina.sankyo.co.jp (S. Uryu) for more information. 0 odatom

Alexei Koudinov on Does Aβ Normally Rein in Excited Synapses?

COMMENT Abstract). We had a chance to comment on this report at earlier ARF news commentary (AlzForum, 22 Nov 2002,

Alexei Koudinov on Trials and Tribulations—Autopsy Reveals Pros and Cons of AD Vaccine

COMMENT Please navigate to my BMJ comment on this contribution with the followng clickable link:

Fred Van Leuven on Aβ, Shifty Drifter? Tissue Grafting Sheds Light on Plaque Formation

COMMENT “obligate” pathological lesion in AD brain! Unfortunately, and I agree with commentator Gunnar Gouras, in AD

Changiz Geula on Aβ, Shifty Drifter? Tissue Grafting Sheds Light on Plaque Formation

COMMENT Meyer-Luehmann et al. provide convincing evidence, through a set of elegant experiments, that diffusion of soluble Aß in the extracellular space is sufficient for the formation of plaques. They observed Aß deposits in tissue from wild-type mice when graft

Nikolay Dokholyan on Neuron Recognition Gone to Potts

COMMENT A general problem in neuroanatomy arises from the difficulty to acquire sufficient positional neuronal data to accurately quantify neuronal disruptions in the brain. This problem is particularly serious for assessing disruptions caused by neuropathologica