Alzheimer’s Disease, Neural Plasticity, and Functional Recovery

Issue title: Translational Research and Drug Discovery for Neurodegeneration: Challenges for Latin America

Guest editors: K.S. Jagannatha Rao, Gabrielle B. Britton, Luisa Lilia Rocha Arrieta, Norberto Garcia-Cairasco, Alberto Lazarowski, Adrián Palacios, Antoni Camins Espuny and Ricardo B. Maccioni

Article type: Review Article

Authors: Mercerón-Martínez, Daymara^{a; 1; *} | Ibaceta-González, Cristobal^{b; 1} | Salazar, Claudia^b | Almaguer-Melian, William^a | Bergado-Rosado, Jorge A.^c | Palacios, Adrian G.^{b; *}

Affiliations: [a] Experimental Electrophysiology Lab, International Center for Neurological Restoration (CIREN), Havana City, Cuba | [b] Centro Interdisciplinario de Neurociencia de Valparaíso, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile | [c] Universidad del Sinú “Elías Bechara Zainum”, Montería, Colombia

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Dr. Adrian G. Palacios, Pasaje Harrington 270, Playa Ancha, Centro Interdisciplinario de Neurociencias de Valparaíso, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile. E-mail: adrian.palacios@uv.cl and Dra. Daymara Mercerón-Mar-tínez, Experimental Electrophysiology Lab, International Center for Neurological Restoration (CIREN), Ave. 25 No. 15806, Playa 11300, Havana City, Cuba. E-mail: daymara.merceron@gmail.com.

Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common and devastating neurodegenerative condition worldwide, characterized by the aggregation of amyloid-β and phosphorylated tau protein, and is accompanied by a progressive loss of learning and memory. A healthy nervous system is endowed with synaptic plasticity, among others neural plasticity mechanisms, allowing structural and physiological adaptations to changes in the environment. This neural plasticity modification sustains learning and memory, and behavioral changes and is severely affected by pathological and aging conditions, leading to cognitive deterioration. This article reviews critical aspects of AD neurodegeneration as well as therapeutic approaches that restore neural plasticity to provide functional recoveries, including environmental enrichment, physical exercise, transcranial stimulation, neurotrophin involvement, and direct electrical stimulation of the amygdala. In addition, we report recent behavioral results in Octodon degus, a promising natural model for the study of AD that naturally reproduces the neuropathological alterations observed in AD patients during normal aging, including neuronal toxicity, deterioration of neural plasticity, and the decline of learning and memory.

Keywords: Neural plasticity, neurorestauration, non-transgenic animal models of neurodegeneration

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-201178

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 82, no. s1, pp. S37-S50, 2021