The diabetes drug liraglutide reverses cognitive impairment in mice and attenuates insulin receptor and synaptic pathology in a non-human primate model of Alzheimer's disease.

ABSTRACT: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurological disorder that still lacks an effective treatment, and this has stimulated an intense pursuit of disease-modifying therapeutics. Given the increasingly recognized link between AD and defective brain insulin signaling, we investigated the actions of liraglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analog marketed for treatment of type 2 diabetes, in experimental models of AD. Insulin receptor pathology is an important feature of AD brains that impairs the neuroprotective actions of central insulin signaling. Here, we show that liraglutide prevented the loss of brain insulin receptors and synapses, and reversed memory impairment induced by AD-linked amyloid-β oligomers (AβOs) in mice. Using hippocampal neuronal cultures, we determined that

SUBMITTER: Batista AF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5947670 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature