Evaluation Of Combination Nutritional Supplement Therapies In The Prevention Of Alzheimers Disease In
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$484,675.00
Summary
Age-related diseases are becoming a major concern as the world’s population grows older due to advances in medical technology, health and nutrition. Dementia accounts for a large proportion of agerelated diseases and is characterised clinically by deterioration in memory and cognitive processing. AD is the most common form of cerebral degeneration leading to dementia. Currently over 200,000 Australians suffer from dementia, with AD, accounting for 50-70% of all cases. At this rate, the number of ....Age-related diseases are becoming a major concern as the world’s population grows older due to advances in medical technology, health and nutrition. Dementia accounts for a large proportion of agerelated diseases and is characterised clinically by deterioration in memory and cognitive processing. AD is the most common form of cerebral degeneration leading to dementia. Currently over 200,000 Australians suffer from dementia, with AD, accounting for 50-70% of all cases. At this rate, the number of people in Australia with dementia will increase to 730,000 by the year 2050. Thus, there is an urgent need for effective preventative treatments for this devastating disease, as dementia will soon be the major cause of disability in Australia. As a result, the social and economic consequences of this disease present a significant challenge to society, and it is imperative that strategies to prevent or delay the onset of AD are developed. If complimentary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies could be developed to prevent or delay the onset for Alzheimer’s disease, the impact on disease burden could be substantial. However, these CAM therapies need to be critically evaluated for their mechanisms, efficacy and safety before human clinical trial are undertaken. The proposed research plan will evaluate the efficacy of the nutritional supplements of polyphenols (EGCG from green tea and curcumin), omega-3 essential fatty acids (docosahexaenoic acid) and lipoic acid to determine whether these treatments in combination offer preventative therapies for AD. The findings from the current study will provide important information concerning the effects of combination supplements in preventing cognitive deficits and AD pathology in a transgenic mouse model. Combination treatments may reduce cognitive deficits (memory and learning), oxidative stress and AD pathology, thereby providing an important insight into possible CAM preventative treatment strategies for AD. The development of effective preventative strategies for the treatment of AD is critical if we are to reduce the number of people that are expected to develop AD over the next 50 years, due to the rapidly aging population. The outcomes of this research may provide disease modifying therapies for the prevention of AD.Read moreRead less
Investigation Of The Mechanisms Involved In Consolidation Of Memory By Beta 3 Adrenoceptoragonists.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$241,018.00
Summary
The inability to form new memories is a major and increasingly prevalent health problem for an aging population. In addition to aging, the inability to form new memories is associated with serious medical conditions including Alzheimer's Disease and diabetes. Common to these conditions is the inability to consolidate memories. Memories are intact for a short while (30 minutes) after the event to be remembered, but memory does not pass on into permanent storage. We have been able to achieve memor ....The inability to form new memories is a major and increasingly prevalent health problem for an aging population. In addition to aging, the inability to form new memories is associated with serious medical conditions including Alzheimer's Disease and diabetes. Common to these conditions is the inability to consolidate memories. Memories are intact for a short while (30 minutes) after the event to be remembered, but memory does not pass on into permanent storage. We have been able to achieve memory consolidation in a particular learning task, which is not normally remembered, by injection of drugs acting on novel receptors (beta 3 adrenoceptors) in the brain of day old chicks. These drugs mimic the action of noradrenaline at beta-3 adrenoceptors. There are a number of ways in which memory consolidation can be enhanced, and we will compare the effects of beta-3 drugs with other potential drugs acting at other types of noradrenaline receptors. One of the actions of beta-3 agonists is related to the uptake of glucose into cells in the brain. We will investigate whether the mechanism of beta-3 enhancement of memory involves the uptake of glucose in brain tissue and studies in cultures of individual cell types will show us which cells are involved. Although this work is done using young chicks, there is no reason to suppose that the basic memory mechanisms at the level of the nerve cell should be different in birds or mammals. There are distinct advantages to using chicks in this research as they can form a long lasting memory for an experience lasting only 10 seconds, and they will discriminate between different colours as part of their learning. This research is aimed at understanding the processes involved in and influencing memory formation. If we are going to develop drugs to alleviate the cognitive problems of old age and more serious cognitive diseases, we need to understand more about the basic mechanisms of memory formation in the normal animal.Read moreRead less