%0 Journal Article %J J Alzheimers Dis %D 2021 %T New Frontiers in the Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease. %A Guzmán-Martínez, Leonardo %A Calfío, Camila %A Farías, Gonzalo A %A Vilches, Cristian %A Prieto, Raul %A Maccioni, Ricardo B %K Acupuncture Therapy %K Aging %K Alzheimer Disease %K Biomarkers %K Dietary Supplements %K Early Diagnosis %K Humans %K Medicine, Chinese Traditional %K Meditation %K Quality of Life %K Treatment Outcome %X

One of the major puzzles in medical research and public health systems worldwide is Alzheimer's disease (AD), reaching nowadays a prevalence near 50 million people. This is a multifactorial brain disorder characterized by progressive cognitive impairment, apathy, and mood and neuropsychiatric disorders. The main risk of AD is aging; a normal biological process associated with a continuum dynamic involving a gradual loss of people's physical capacities, but with a sound experienced view of life. Studies suggest that AD is a break from normal aging with changes in the powerful functional capacities of neurons as well as in the mechanisms of neuronal protection. In this context, an important path has been opened toward AD prevention considering that there are elements of nutrition, daily exercise, avoidance of toxic substances and drugs, an active social life, meditation, and control of stress, to achieve healthy aging. Here, we analyze the involvement of such factors and how to control environmental risk factors for a better quality of life. Prevention as well as innovative screening programs for early detection of the disease using reliable biomarkers are becoming critical to control the disease. In addition, the failure of traditional pharmacological treatments and search for new drugs has stimulated the emergence of nutraceutical compounds in the context of a "multitarget" therapy, as well as mindfulness approaches shown to be effective in the aging, and applied to the control of AD. An integrated approach involving all these preventive factors combined with novel pharmacological approaches should pave the way for the future control of the disease.

%B J Alzheimers Dis %V 82 %P S51-S63 %8 2021 %G eng %N s1 %1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33523002?dopt=Abstract %R 10.3233/JAD-201059 %0 Journal Article %J J Alzheimers Dis %D 2017 %T Tau Platelets Correlate with Regional Brain Atrophy in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease. %A Slachevsky, Andrea %A Guzmán-Martínez, Leonardo %A Delgado, Carolina %A Reyes, Pablo %A Farías, Gonzalo A %A Muñoz-Neira, Carlos %A Bravo, Eduardo %A Farías, Mauricio %A Flores, Patricia %A Garrido, Cristian %A Becker, James T %A Lopez, Oscar L %A Maccioni, Ricardo B %X

BACKGROUND: Intracellular neurofibrillary tangles are part of the core pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD), which are mainly composed of hyperphosphorylated tau protein.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to determine whether high molecular weight (HMW) or low molecular weight (LMW) tau protein levels, as well as the ratio HMW/LMW, present in platelets correlates with brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) structural changes in normal and cognitively impaired subjects.

METHODS: We examined 53 AD patients and 37 cognitively normal subjects recruited from two Memory Clinics at the Universidad de Chile. Tau levels in platelets were determined by immunoreactivity and the MRI scans were analyzed using voxel-based morphometry in 41 AD patients.

RESULTS: The HMW/LMW tau ratio was statistically different between controls and AD patients, and no associations were noted between HMW or LMW tau and MRI structures. In a multivariate analysis controlled for age and education level, the HMW/LMW tau ratio was associated with reduced volume in the left medial and right anterior cingulate gyri, right cerebellum, right thalamus (pulvinar), left frontal cortex, and right parahippocampal region.

CONCLUSIONS: This exploratory study showed that HMW/LMW tau ratio is significantly higher in AD patients than control subjects, and that it is associated with specific brain regions atrophy. Determination of peripheral markers of AD pathology can help understanding the pathophysiology of neurodegeneration in AD.

%B J Alzheimers Dis %V 55 %P 1595-1603 %G eng %N 4 %R 10.3233/JAD-160652