Drug Discovery
Somatostatin Agonist Treatment for Cognitive Aging and Dementia
Investigator(s): Ken A. Witt, Ph.D.
Institution(s): Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville
Duration:
Summary:
Somatostatin is an inhibitory hormone, whose main actions are to regulate secretion of other hormones. Somatostatin has been shown to be significantly decreased in humans suffering from AD and is thought to represent a pathological characteristic of AD. A novel avenue for treating AD therefore, is in the use of drugs targeting somatostatin receptors (SSTRs). Recent studies have demonstrated that somatostatin specifically regulates neuronal neprilysin (NEP) activity, a potent Ab-degrading enzyme. With this understanding, SSTRs agonists may provide a potent drug strategy for the treatment of AD, with the potential to halt the progression of the disease. The goals of this proposal are to examine the effects of a novel non-peptide SSTR agonists in a mouse model of cognitive aging and dementia, associated with Ab.
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