Background: Memantine is an approved symptomatic treatment for moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease that reduces the excitotoxic effects of hyperactive glutamatergic transmission. However, the exact mechanism of the effect of memantine in Alzheimer’s disease patients is poorly understood. Importantly, the default mode network (DMN), which plays a key role in attention, is hypoactive in Alzheimer’s […]
Although the etiology of psychotic symptoms (hallucinations and delusions) in Alzheimer’s disease is still not known, alterations in serotonergic neurotransmission have been proposed. In a 3-year follow-up study, we evaluated the association of serotonin (5-HT) receptor 5-HT2a 102T/C polymorphism (allelic variants CC, CT and TT) with psychotic symptom severity and response to treatment with atypical […]
Here we investigated the effect of the rivastigmine patch alone on depression in 50 mild Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) patients with comorbid major depressive episode (MDE). First diagnosis acetyl-cholinesterase inhibitor and psychoactive drug-free outpatients (n = 50) were recruited in memory clinics and reassessed after 3 and 6 months. Global cognitive functioning, depressive symptoms and MDE […]
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter involved in several brain functions ranging from emotions control, movement organization to memory formation. It is also involved in the regulation of mechanisms of synaptic plasticity. However, its role in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathogenesis is still puzzling. Several recent line of research instead indicates a clear role for dopamine in both […]