European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

DISEASE PROGRESSION AND TREATMENT STRATEGIES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: AN OVERVIEW

Smita Jain* and Shubha Shrivastava

ABSTRACT

Alzheimer‘s is a disease which pathologically involves production of β-amyloid peptide (Aβ). Beta-amyloid initially occurs as small soluble clusters which can travel freely in the brain, then finally occurs as plaques which is associated with Alzheimer‘s. Extracellular depositions of Aβ along with amyloid precursor protein (APP) are the major pathological process of Alzeimer‘s disease. Our discovery suggests that Alzheimer‘s disease starts to manifest long before plaque formation. The study showed that in this clustered form; beta-amyloid can bind strongly to a receptor on nerve cells, setting in motion an intercellular process that erodes their synapses with other nerve cells with disease progression in the living patient. The current therapeutic efforts are directed towards developing the review to explore the targeted effective therapeutic potential for the treatment of Alzheimer‘s disease which may alter the course or progression of the underlying disease by preventing the formation or clearing of plaques (beta-amyloid) fragments from the brain of the patients. The report summarizes information concerning the all aspects of cellular activities and disease progression of Alzheimer‘s disease in order to provide sufficient baseline information that could be used in drug discovery campaigns and development process, thereby providing new functional leads for Alzheimer‘s disease.

Keywords: Alzheimer‘s disease, beta-amyloid, amyloid precursor protein, plaques.