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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
Locus Coeruleus Degeneration In Alzheimer’S Disease And Its Effect On Beta-Adrenergic Signaling In The Hippocampus, Bethany Langner
Locus Coeruleus Degeneration In Alzheimer’S Disease And Its Effect On Beta-Adrenergic Signaling In The Hippocampus, Bethany Langner
All ETDs from UAB
Locus coeruleus (LC) degeneration in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and loss of noradrenergic (NA) innervation in hippocampus contributes to learning and memory deficits. Recently, a novel rat model (TgF344-AD) has been created that allows for a more thorough investigation into these mechanisms due to its similarity to human AD pathology. The McMahon lab has recently demonstrated heightened long-term potentiation (LTP) and a ‘supersensitivity’ of -adrenergic receptors (-ARs) at excitatory synapses in the dentate gyrus (DG) in TgF344-AD rats. These mechanisms could be responsible for maintaining learning and memory during buildup of AD pathology. The first goal of this Master’s thesis was …
Tau-Dependent Regulation Of Network Hyperexcitability By Alzheimer’S Disease Risk Gene Bin1, Yuliya Voskobiynyk
Tau-Dependent Regulation Of Network Hyperexcitability By Alzheimer’S Disease Risk Gene Bin1, Yuliya Voskobiynyk
All ETDs from UAB
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading neurodegenerative disorder that affects an astonishing 5.8 million Americans, a number projected to reach 14 million by the year 2050. While only about 1% of all AD cases are caused by mutations in APP, PSEN1, and PSEN2, the cause of sporadic AD remains unknown. Variations in several risk genes have been proposed to contribute to the development of sporadic AD cases. Since, currently, there are no disease-modifying therapies for families affected by AD and multiple anti-amyloid-beta therapies failed in clinical trials, determining how these risk genes contribute to the development of AD is crucial …
Pathological Changes In Hippocampal Synaptic Transmission And Neuronal Function During Early Disease In The Novel Tgf344-Ad Rat Model, Lindsey Allyson Smith
Pathological Changes In Hippocampal Synaptic Transmission And Neuronal Function During Early Disease In The Novel Tgf344-Ad Rat Model, Lindsey Allyson Smith
All ETDs from UAB
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia in those 65 years and older and the 6th leading cause of death in the United Sates. Current treatments only target symptoms of the disease and cannot slow or halt disease progression. The novel and comprehensive TgF344-AD rodent model may bridge the translational gap previous animal models have failed to traverse by providing the platform to probe pre-lesion synapse dysfunction, which is thought to result primarily from increased levels of toxic soluble amyloid beta and hyperphosphorylated tau. The most recently developed model, the TgF344-AD rat was created in 2013 by insertion …
Contribution Of Kv4.2 To Neuronal Hyperexcitability In A Mouse Model Of Alzheimer's Disease, Alicia Marie Hall
Contribution Of Kv4.2 To Neuronal Hyperexcitability In A Mouse Model Of Alzheimer's Disease, Alicia Marie Hall
All ETDs from UAB
The incidence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is increasing with the aging population and an astonishing 5.2 million Americans are affected by AD, the most common cause of dementia. Cognitive impairment worsens with declining hippocampal function. Neuronal hyperexcitability occurs early in the pathogenesis of AD and contributes to network imbalance and the seizure activity seen in AD patients. In other disorders with neuronal hyperexcitability, dysfunction in the dendrites often contributes, but dendritic excitability has not been studied in AD models. We used patch-clamp recordings to directly examine dendritic excitability in the CA1 region of the hippocampus. We found that dendrites, but …
An Evaluation Of Sample Size Re-Estimation Adaptive Designs And Delayed-Start Designs For Alzheimer's Disease Trials, Guoqiao Wang
An Evaluation Of Sample Size Re-Estimation Adaptive Designs And Delayed-Start Designs For Alzheimer's Disease Trials, Guoqiao Wang
All ETDs from UAB
The goal of this dissertation is to investigate the effect of novel clinical trial designs for Alzheimer's disease (AD), and to provide applications for their use in real trials. The data used for our simulation is a meta-data base of completed trials. In the first paper, we investigate the sample size re-estimation (SSR) adaptive design based on the effect size and the variance without taking into account the longitudinal feature of the trials. In the second paper, we take advantage of that feature to explore the SSR based on the variance of the rate of change in the longitudinal measurements. …
Neuropathological Alterations In Alzheimer's Disease: An Up Close Look At Sympathetic Sprouting, Amy Renee Nelson
Neuropathological Alterations In Alzheimer's Disease: An Up Close Look At Sympathetic Sprouting, Amy Renee Nelson
All ETDs from UAB
Pathological hallmarks of AD include neurofibrillary tau tangles, amyloid beta (Abeta) accumulation and cholinergic degeneration. Cholinergic degeneration can be mimicked in rats by lesioning cholinergic neurons in medial septum. Hippocampal cholinergic denervation disrupts retrograde transport of nerve growth factor (NGF), leading to its accumulation, which subsequently triggers sprouting of noradrenergic sympathetic fibers from the superior cervical ganglia into hippocampus. Dr. McMahon's lab previously reported that coincident with this sprouting, there is an increase in cholinergic innervation that correlates with a recovery of M1 muscarinic receptor dependent plasticity at CA3-CA1 synapses and visual cortex. These findings suggest that noradrenergic sympathetic sprouting …
Facilitating The Use Of Implicit Memory And Learning In The Physical Therapy Management Of Individuals With Alzheimer's Disease; A Case Series., Laura White
All ETDs from UAB
Background and Purpose: Physical rehabilitation of individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) is often complicated by impairments in explicit memory and learning. Rehabilitation strategies that facilitate use of the preserved implicit memory system may be effective in treating patients with AD. The purpose of this case series is to describe the application of these strategies, including high-repetition practice, errorless learning (EL), and spaced retrieval (SR), to the physical therapy management of individuals with moderate AD. Case Description: Three women aged 89 to 95 years old with moderate AD who resided in an assisted living facility participated in physical therapy to address …
Effect Of Overexpressing Apolipoprotein A-I In An Animal Model Of Alzheimer's Disease, Terry L. Lewis
Effect Of Overexpressing Apolipoprotein A-I In An Animal Model Of Alzheimer's Disease, Terry L. Lewis
All ETDs from UAB
Apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) is the major protein component of high density lipoprotein (HDL) in circulation and is expressed mainly by the liver and intestine. The levels of apoA-I/HDL are inversely related to the incidence of cardiovascular disease. Because of the connections between heart disease and Alzheimer's disease (AD), it is conceivable that high levels of apoA-I/HDL may be protective against AD. However, the limited literature shows mixed results on the role of apoA-I/HDL in the development of AD. It is hypothesized that increased expression of human apoA-I will ameliorate the behavioral deficits and characteristic amyloid-ß (Aß) plaque formation in a …