Nerve growth factor and galantamine ameliorate early signs of neurodegeneration in anti-nerve growth factor mice.

Capsoni S, Giannotta S, Cattaneo A.

Neuroscience Program,
International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA),
Via Beirut 2-4, 34014 Trieste, Italy; and
Lay Line Genomics SpA, 00155 Rome, Italy.
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2002 Sep 17;99(19):12432-7

Abstract

Phenotypic knockout of nerve growth factor (NGF) activity in transgenic anti-NGF mice (AD11 mice) results in a progressive neurodegenerative phenotype resembling Alzheimer’s disease. In this article, we examine whether and how the progressive neurodegenerative phenotype of AD11 mice could be prevented or ameliorated by pharmacological treatments with NGF or the cholinergic agonist galantamine, at a relatively early phase of Alzheimer’s disease-like neurodegeneration. We demonstrate that the neurodegeneration induced by the expression of anti-NGF antibodies in AD11 mice can be largely reversed by NGF delivery through an olfactory route.