NeuroDefend, a novel Chinese medicine, attenuates amyloid-β and tau pathology in experimental Alzheimer's disease models

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common age-related neurodegenerative disorder. Amyloid-β (Aβ) and hyper-phosphorylated tau accumulation are accountable for the progressive neuronal loss and cognitive impairments usually observed in AD. Currently, medications for AD offer moderate symptomatic relief but fail to cure the disease; hence development of effective and safe drugs is urgently needed for AD treatment. In this study, we investigated a Chinese medicine (CM) formulation named NeuroDefend (ND), for reducing amyloid β (Aβ) and tau pathology in transgenic AD mice models. Regular oral administration of ND improved cognitive function and memory in 3XTg-AD and 5XFAD mice. In addition, ND reduced beta-amyloid precursor protein (APP), APP C-terminal fragments (CTF-β/α), Aβ and 4G8 positive Aβ burden in 3XTg-AD and 5XFAD mice. Furthermore, ND efficiently reduced the levels of insoluble phospho-tau protein aggregates and AT8 positive phospho tau neuron load in 3XTg-AD mice. Hence, ND could be a promising candidate for the treatment of AD in humans.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Aβ-plaque; Chinese medicine; NeuroDefend; Neurofibrillary tangles.