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Development Of Novel Therapies Targeting Biochemical Mechanisms To Halt Progression Of Alzheimer’S And Parkinson’S Disease, Caleb Vegh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Parkinson’s Disease (PD) are the two most common and devastating neurodegenerative diseases in the world. There is no cure for either disease and current treatments provide only symptomatic relief. Furthermore, current treatments for AD and PD have shown to exhibit adverse side effects when taken over long periods of time. With age being the greatest risk factor for developing AD and PD, the increase in the aging population has the potential to lead to a serious medical/economic crisis due to the amount of time and care required for patients with AD and PD. The exact aetiologias …

Inhibitors Of Alpha-Synuclein Aggregation, Jemil Ahmed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alpha-Synuclein (αS) – a neuronal, disordered, presynaptic protein – aggregates into amyloid fibrils and accumulates in the substantia nigra pars compacta of Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients. The aggregation and accumulation of αS amyloid fibrils leads to death of dopaminergic neurons; a hallmark of PD. Although it’s not clear why αS aggregates, prior studies have found that intrastriatal injection of fibril alone is sufficient to cause PD pathology in mouse and non-human primates models. These observations implicate αS as a therapeutic target against PD.

Unfortunately, there are three caveats when attempting to target αS. First, αS is a neuronal protein expressed …