Ricerc@Sapienza

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder responsible for the majority of dementia cases in elderly people. Current treatments provide inadequate symptomatic relief as several distinct pathological processes are thought to underlie the decline of cognitive and neural function seen in AD. This suggests that the efficacy of treatment requires a multitargeted approach. In this context, palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) provides a novel potential adjunct therapy that can be incorporated into a multitargeted treatment strategy.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a serious health and economic challenge of the modern age. Current treatments provide only symptomatic relief, making necessary a multitargeted approach against the several pathological processes underlying such disease. In particular, beta-amyloid deposition, tauopathy, astrocyte dysfunction, neuroinflammation and glutamate unbalance recently became promising targets to develop new therapies. In this context, it has been shown that palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) is a multitargeted treatment strategy that provides a novel potential adjunct therapy.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder responsible for the majority of dementia cases in elderly people. It is widely accepted that the main hallmarks of AD are not only senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles but also reactive astrogliosis, which often precedes detrimental deposits and neuronal atrophy. Such phenomenon facilitates the regeneration of neural networks; however, under some circumstances, like in AD, reactive astrogliosis is detrimental, depriving neurons of the homeostatic support, thus contributing to neuronal loss.