"Alzheimer's disease is an important health problem partner, since it is the most frequent cause of dementia in the Western world". This is the starting point of the thesis defended at the University of Navarra by Mónica García Alloza, entitled "Alterations of the serotonergic system in rats with cholinergic hypofunction and Alzheimer's disease".

According to the author, "it provides a better understanding of the disorders suffered by patients with this disease, which can be both cognitive (learning problems and report) and non-cognitive (depression, psychosis, aggressiveness, etc.). The latter are particularly stressful for the caregiver and the patient, and are often responsible for admission to specialized centers. Hence the need to clarify the neurochemical instructions underlying these disorders."

The pharmacist explains that "people with this disease have their learning systems affected and report as a result of cholinergic (cognitive) denervation. But what is most relevant are the non-cognitive disorders that we have verified in the patients investigated, since they suffer a decrease in the density of certain receptors relevant to cognitive processes and crucial in behavioral alterations (5-HT1B/1D and 5-HT6)".

New contributions

According to Mónica García, "there are currently drugs with activity on the 5-HT6 receptor capable of improving report in experimental animals. In our study we have verified the relationship of the 5-HT6 receptor with disorders associated with Alzheimer's disease, such as psychosis or hyperactivity, so it is possible that these drugs could be useful in the treatment of both cognitive and non-cognitive problems suffered by these patients".

To carry out this study, this expert worked "first with rats and, at the end of the experimental phase, with postmortem tissues from Alzheimer's patients and from healthy patients with identical characteristics".