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Nerve Growth Factor Treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease: The Experience of the First Attempt at Intracerebral Neurotrophic Factor Therapy

  • Chapter
Neurotrophic Factors

Part of the book series: Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology ((HEP,volume 134))

Abstract

The understanding of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology has made enormous progress during the past two decades (Kosik 1992; Selkoe 1996; Hardy 1997) Its hallmarks are the formation of neuritic plaques, neurofibrillary tangles and neuron loss in the brain. The discovery of amyloid precursor protein (APP), the genetic analysis of familial forms of AD, and observations on transgenic animals have produced a widely accepted hypothesis which ascribes the central role in the generation of plaques to the APP fragment, A/β. Since A/β is neurotoxic, at least in vitro, the hypothesis includes the view that neuron loss is secondary to the initial nucleation of neuritic plaques caused by Aβ.

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  1. Merck Sharp & Dohme, Neuroscience Research Centre, Terlings Park, CM20 2QR, Harlow, Essex, UK

    Franz Hefti Ph.D.

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Hefti, F. (1999). Nerve Growth Factor Treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease: The Experience of the First Attempt at Intracerebral Neurotrophic Factor Therapy. In: Hefti, F. (eds) Neurotrophic Factors. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, vol 134. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59920-0_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59920-0_7

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