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2008 Grants - Feinstein
Anti-Amyloidogenic Effects of Noradrenaline
Douglas L. Feinstein, Ph.D.
University of Illinois - Chicago
2008 Investigator-Initiated Research Grant
Mounting evidence suggests that Alzheimer's disease strongly affects the locus ceruleus (LC), a part of the brain located on the brain stem. People with Alzheimer's suffer significant losses of LC brain cells called noradrenergic neurons. Scientists believe that losses of noradrenergic neurons contribute to Alzheimer pathologies, including inflammation and the accumulation of the protein fragment beta-amyloid.
Douglas L. Feinstein, Ph.D., and colleagues hypothesize that elevating noradrenergic neuron levels could be of therapeutic value for people with Alzheimer's. For their proposed study, the researchers will administer drug treatments in mice engineered to develop Alzheimer-like symptoms. These treatments, designed to increase noradrenergic neuron levels, will be given multiple times to each animal. The researchers will then use various imaging techniques to analyze the extent of inflammation, brain cell damage and beta-amyloid levels in the mice brains. In addition, the team will administer behavioral tests to the mice to determine whether the drug treatments have any effects on the animals' cognitive ability.
The results of Dr. Feinstein's effort could lead to future human clinical studies involving noradrenergic neuron treatments. Ultimately, such work could spur the development of novel therapies for Alzheimer's disease.