title: Nasal Application of the Galantamine Pro-drug Memogain Slows Down Plaque Deposition and Ameliorates Behavior in 5X Familial Alzheimer's Disease Mice.
abstract: The plant alkaloid galantamine is an established symptomatic drug treatment for Alzheimer's disease (AD), providing cognitive and global relief in human patients. However, as an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, gastrointestinal side effects limit the dosage and duration of treatment. Memogain (Gln-1062), a pro-drug, liberates galantamine on cleavage by a carboxyesterase in the brain. The possibility to deliver Memogain intranasally may further circumvent side effects, allowing higher dosing compared to galantamine. In this study, the 5X Familial Alzheimer's Disease (5XFAD) mouse model was used to investigate the effect of chronic Memogain treatment on behavior and amyloid-β (Aβ) plaque deposition in the brain. Chronic intranasal dosage of 6 mg/kg body weight twice daily was tolerated well, whereas the double dose caused body weight loss in males and was less effective in some behavioral tests. 8 weeks of chronic treatment resulted in improved performance in behavioral tests, such as open field and light-dark avoidance, and in fear conditioning already at mildly affected stages at the age of 18 weeks compared to untreated controls. Furthermore, after treatment a significantly lower plaque density in the brain, i.e., in the entorhinal cortex (reduction 20% females, 40% males) and the hippocampus (19% females, 31% males) at the age of 18 weeks was observed. These results show that nasal application of Memogain effectively delivers the drug to the brain with the potential to retard plaque deposition and improve behavioral symptoms in AD similar to the approved galantamine.
authors.affiliation: Neurogenetics Special Laboratory, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Soumee
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
authors.affiliation: Galantos Pharma GmbH, Nieder-Olm, Germany.
authors.forename: Alfred
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maelicke
authors.affiliation: Neurogenetics Special Laboratory, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Montag
mesh_terms: D000281:Administration, Intranasal; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000378:metabolism*; D016564:Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005239:Fear / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D005702:Galantamine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D058225:Plaque, Amyloid / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D053764:Presenilin-1 / Q000235:genetics; D011355:Prodrugs / Q000008:administration & dosage*
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D016564:Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors; C508853:PSEN1 protein, human; D053764:Presenilin-1; D011355:Prodrugs; C548757:memogain; D005702:Galantamine
keywords: Acetylcholinesterase inhibitor; Alzheimer’s disease; amyloid plaques; galantamine; nasal application; nicotinic enhancer