Maral Mouradian on Parkinson's Proteins and the Proteasome—The Plot Thickens

COMMENT Since Parkinson's disease can develop as a result of mutations in several different genes, finding a common link among these gene products can provide a unifying explanation of the pathways that ultimately lead to neuronal death. The interesting stud

Ashley Bush on Murine apolipoprotein serum amyloid A in solution forms a hexamer containing a central channel.

COMMENT Some intriguing comparisons can be made between the SAA hexamers, and the hexameric, membrane inserting structure of Abeta that we have reported recently.  0 bush Alzheimer's disease amyloid-beta binds copper and zinc to generate an allosterically or

Robert Brendza on Dendritic Spine Stability—Not So Black and White—or Is That Green and Yellow?

COMMENT In this week’s issue of Nature, two different groups report a technique to observe neurons in the brains of living, intact animals. Both groups demonstrated the ability to image various neuronal structures with two-photon microscopy in the brains of trans

David Holtzman on Amyloid Formation—One Amino Acid Can Make a Difference

COMMENT In Alzheimer’s disease, the normally soluble protein amyloid β (Aβ) converts to an insoluble form and eventually deposits in the brain in the form of plaques. An understanding of the very earliest events in this conversion from soluble to insoluble aggreg

Bruce Kagan on Murine apolipoprotein serum amyloid A in solution forms a hexamer containing a central channel.

COMMENT Serum amyloid A (SAA) is an apolipoprotein of uncertain function, whose concentration in serum can increase by as much as 1,000-fold during states of infection or inflammation. Chronic inflammatory states may lead to reactive AA amyloidosis, in which an N

Mary Jo LaDu on Amyloid Formation—One Amino Acid Can Make a Difference

COMMENT The recent PNAS paper by Bitan et al. represents the latest in a series of publications by the Teplow group investigating the aggregation of the Aβ peptide. This group has previously employed various biophysical and biochemical approaches to help elucidat

Tomiichiro Oda on A novel compound RS-0466 reverses beta-amyloid-induced cytotoxicity through the Akt signaling pathway in vitro.

COMMENT The compounds RS-0466 and others as yet undisclosed are available for licensing upon request. Contact yasuhiro@shina.sankyo.co.jp (Y. Nakagami) for more information. 0 odatom

Alexei Koudinov on Are beta-sheet breaker peptides dissolving the therapeutic problem of Alzheimer's disease?

COMMENT Good article. The remaining question, however, is still in the air: Does amyloid fighting strategy dissolve the therapeutic problem of Alzheimer's disease? Unfortunately it does not. And likely will not. Details are click away at the British Medical

Alexei Koudinov on Modification of the monoaminergic neurotransmitters in frontal cortex and hippocampus by dietary trans alpha-linolenic acid in piglets.

COMMENT As a further reading I suggest related Neurobiol Lipids contribution by Sholomo Yehuda [FullText]. 0 postmaster

Alexei Koudinov on The neurodegeneration mutant löchrig interferes with cholesterol homeostasis and Appl processing.

COMMENT Great article. Please see the authors comment on it at the Neurobiol Lipids noteworthy collection

Alexei Koudinov on BSE prions propagate as either variant CJD-like or sporadic CJD-like prion strains in transgenic mice expressing human prion protein.

COMMENT This is an interesting study. To add to the horizon of prion diseasespathogenesis please do not miss recent Neurobiol Lipids article"The prion protein and cellular cholesterol homeostasis" [FullText]. 0 postmaster

Alexei Koudinov on Amyloidosis and Alzheimer's disease.

COMMENT This is a great review from an outstanding research team. It is, however, a  important to add that there is a need to revisit the amyloid concept. For details please see recent BMJ contribution [FullText]. 0 postmaster

Alexei Koudinov on Gamma-secretase inhibitors and Alzheimer's disease.

COMMENT Please do not miss the follow up discussion for the related JCI paper by Selkoe published at the British Medical Journal ("Amyloid was never clearly implicated in Alzheimer's disease, so look at Aβ from a different angle"), FullText. 0 post

Alexei Koudinov on Abeta immunization and anti-Abeta antibodies: potential therapies for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

COMMENT Please do not miss the follow up discussion for the related JCI paper by Selkoe. It is at the British Medical Journal (1 Dec 2002), "Amyloid was never clearly implicated in Alzheimer's disease, so look at Aβ from a different angle" [FullTex

Siegfried Hoyer on Probing PPARγ? Agonists: Could Diabetes Drugs Treat Alzheimer's Disease?

COMMENT Alzheimer Disease and brain insulin metabolism may be assumed to be tightly coupled. 1. Both insulin binding to its receptor and receptor autophosphorylation were found to be reduced by Ab40 and Ab42, and this effect was mediated via a decrease in the aff