Alzheimer's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Alzheimer's Disease, including details on diagnosis, memory loss, heredity, treatment, medication.

Caloric restriction attenuates Abeta-deposition in Alzheimer transgenic models.

Patel NV, Gordon MN, Connor KE, Good RA, Engelman RW, Mason J, Morgan DG, Morgan TE, Finch CE

Andrus Gerontology Center and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0191, USA.

Dietary influences on Alzheimer disease (AD) are gaining recognition. Because many aging processes are attenuated in laboratory mammals by caloric restriction (CR), we examined the effects of short-term CR in two AD-transgenic mice, APP(swe/ind) (J20) and APP(swe) + PS1(M146L) (APP + PS1). CR substantially decreased the accumulation of Abeta-plaques in both lines: by 40% in APP(swe/ind) (CR, 6 weeks), and by 55% in APP + PS1 (CR, 14 weeks). CR also decreased astrocytic activation (GFAP immunoreactivity). These influences of CR on AD-transgenic mice are consistent with epidemiological reports that show that high caloric diets associate with the risk of AD, and suggest that dietary interventions in adult life might slow disease progression.

Published 7 March 2005 in Neurobiol Aging, 26(7): 995-1000.
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