amyloid-beta-peptides and nattokinase

According to the World Health Organization, globally there are around 18 million patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD), and this number is expected to double by 2025. The pathophysiology of AD includes selective deposition of Aβ peptide in the mitochondria of cells, which inhibits uptake of glucose by neurons and key enzyme functions. Current drug treatments for AD are unable to rectify the underlying pathology of the disease; they only provide short-term symptomatic relief, so there is a need for the development of newer treatment regimes. The antiamyloid activity, antifibrinolytic activity, and antithrombotic activity of nattokinase holds potential for the treatment of AD. As nattokinase is a protein, its stability restricts its usage to a greater extent, but this limitation can be overcome by nanoencapsulation. In this work, we successfully synthesized polymeric nanoparticles of nattokinase and characterized its use by different techniques: transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, DTS Nano, differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thioflavin T-binding assay, in vitro drug release, antifibrinolytic activity, and in vivo antiamyloid activity. As brain targeting of hydrophilic drugs is complicated due to the stringent nature of blood-brain barrier, in the current experimental study, we conjugated poly(lactic-

Topics: Alzheimer Disease; Amyloid beta-Peptides; Antifibrinolytic Agents; Calorimetry, Differential Scanning; Drug Delivery Systems; Drug Liberation; Fibrinolytic Agents; Humans; Lactic Acid; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; Mixed Function Oxygenases; Nanoparticles; Peptide Fragments; Plaque, Amyloid; Polyglycolic Acid; Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer; Proto-Oncogene Proteins; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; Subtilisins