New approach to treating Alzheimer's disease

"As therapeutics for AD, Professor Lim suggested a strategy that uses matal-based complexes for reducing the toxicity of the amyloid beta (Aβ). Althought various metal complexs have been suggested as therapeutics for AD, none of them work effectively in vivo.

The research team has found that they can hydrolyze amyloid-beta proteins using a crystal structure, called tetra-N methylated cyclam (TMC). Hydrolysis is the process that uses water molecules to split other molecules apart. The metal-mediated TMC structure uses the external water and cut off the binding of amyloid-beta protein effectively.

In this study, the following four metals (cobalt, nickel, copper and zinc) were placed at the center of the TMC structure. When the double-layered cobalt was added to the center, the hydrolysis activity was at the highest.

The research team reported that the cobalt-based metal complex (Co(II)(TMC)) had the potential to penetrate the blood brain barrier and the hydrolysis activity for nonamyloid protein was low. Moreover, the effects of this substance on the toxicity of amyloid-beta protein were also observed in living cell experiments."

Article by Joo Hyeon Heo for medicalxpress.com

To read the full article, Click HERE