Research Update
Emotional Memory and Memory Distortions
Dr. Andrew Budson was invited this July to participate in a symposium for the XXIX International Congress of Psychology, in Berlin, Germany, where he gave a lecture entitled, “Emotional memory and memory distortions in Alzheimer’s disease (AD): Evidence from laboratory studies and the attacks of September 11th, 2001.” These studies found that emotional items and events were perceived as being more familiar, regardless of whether they were actually experienced or not. Distortions of memory, including remembering things that never happened, were more common in patients with AD.
Intracellular Mechanisms Related to AD
In AD, amyloid precursor protein (or APP) fragments are generated within a cellular compartment known as the endosome. Current evidence suggests the machinery that transports APP out of the endosome may be defective, causing APP to remain in this compartment where toxic amyloid beta (Abeta) peptides are formed. Dr. Peter Morin’s laboratory and others have found that the endosomal machinery implicated in AD also regulates signaling through the Wnt pathway, which is regulated by presenilin 1. Dr. Morin has received a Veteran’s Administration Merit Award to study endosomal transport proteins that are abnormal in AD.
Risk Evaluation and Education for AD
In the REVEAL III study, Dr. Robert Green and colleagues have disclosed Apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype and AD risk assessment to 255 participants at four study sites around the country. Participants are being followed with assessments for mood and emotional responses, behavior changes, risk perception, and general satisfaction with the disclosure process. A recently accepted article in the Journal of Genetic Counseling addresses determinants of baseline risk perception of AD in participants. In addition, two methods papers have recently been accepted from REVEAL data. Findings to be published in Alzheimer’s Disease and Associated Disorders used an iterative principal component analysis to develop a more sensitive tool for assessing the psychological impact of genetic testing. A recently published article in Genetics in Medicine addressed the scientific and ethical issues involved in creating risk models based on genetic testing for African American participants.
Screenings for Drugs to Reduce Neuropathologic Changes
Dr. Carmela Abraham and her colleagues are in the midst of two exciting screens for drugs that could alleviate pathologic changes that occur in the brain as a result of normal aging and for drugs that could inhibit the formation of the toxic Abeta peptide. Many academic and pharmaceutical groups are now testing disease-modifying drugs that are aimed at reducing Abeta in the brain. In collaboration with the Laboratory for Drug Design in Neurodegeneration at the Harvard Medical School, Dr. Abraham’s laboratory is using a novel approach in their screen for the Abeta inhibitor. This research is supported by a grant from the National Center for Drug Discovery in Neurodegeneration.
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