Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common age-related neurodegenerative disorder. Amyloid-β (Aβ) and hyper-phosphorylated tau accumulation are accountable for the progressive neuronal loss and cognitive impairments usually observed in AD. Currently, medications for AD offer moderate symptomatic relief but fail to cure the disease; hence development of effective and safe drugs is urgently needed for AD treatment. In this study, we investigated a Chinese medicine (CM) formulation named NeuroDefend (ND), for reducing amyloid β (Aβ) and tau pathology in transgenic AD mice models. Regular oral administration of ND improved cognitive function and memory in 3XTg-AD and 5XFAD mice. In addition, ND reduced beta-amyloid precursor protein (APP), APP C-terminal fragments (CTF-β/α), Aβ and 4G8 positive Aβ burden in 3XTg-AD and 5XFAD mice. Furthermore, ND efficiently reduced the levels of insoluble phospho-tau protein aggregates and AT8 positive phospho tau neuron load in 3XTg-AD mice. Hence, ND could be a promising candidate for the treatment of AD in humans.

中文翻译：

---

NeuroDefend 是一种新型中药，可减轻实验性阿尔茨海默病模型中的淀粉样蛋白 β 和 tau 病理学

阿尔茨海默病 (AD) 是最常见的与年龄相关的神经退行性疾病。淀粉样蛋白-β (Aβ) 和过度磷酸化的 tau 积累是 AD 中通常观察到的进行性神经元丢失和认知障碍的原因。目前，治疗 AD 的药物可适度缓解症状，但无法治愈疾病；因此，迫切需要开发有效和安全的药物来治疗 AD。在这项研究中，我们研究了一种名为 NeuroDefend (ND) 的中药 (CM) 制剂，用于减少转基因 AD 小鼠模型中的淀粉样蛋白 β (Aβ) 和 tau 病理。定期口服 ND 可改善 3XTg-AD 和 5XFAD 小鼠的认知功能和记忆力。此外，ND 减少了 3XTg-AD 和 5XFAD 小鼠的 β-淀粉样前体蛋白 (APP)、APP C-末端片段 (CTF-β/α)、Aβ 和 4G8 阳性 Aβ 负荷。此外，ND 有效降低了 3XTg-AD 小鼠中不溶性磷酸 tau 蛋白聚集体和 AT8 阳性磷酸 tau 神经元负荷的水平。因此，ND 可能是治疗人类 AD 的有希望的候选者。