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40/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 40 out of 100. Drug development

Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models

Plain-language summary

Background Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive deterioration of cognitive functions, extracellular β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles within neocortex and hippocampus. Adult hippocampal neurogenesis plays an important role in learning and memory processes and its abnormal regulation might account for cognitive impairments associated with AD. Methodology/principal findings The double transgenic (Tg) CRND8 mice (overexpressing the Swedish and Indiana mutations in the human amyloid precursor protein), aged 2 and 6 months, were used to examine in vivo the effects of 5 weeks lithium treatment. BrdU labelling showed a decreased neurogenesis in the subgranular zone of Tg mice compared to non-Tg mice. The decrease of hippocampal neurogenesis was accompanied by behavioural deficits and worsened with age and pathology severity. The differentiation into neurons and maturation of the proliferating cells were also markedly impaired in the Tg mice. Lithium treatment to 2-month-old Tg mice significantly stimulated the proliferation and neuron fate specification of newborn cells and fully counteracted the transgene-induced impairments of cognitive functions. The drug, by the inhibition of GSK-3β and subsequent activation of Wnt/ß-catenin signalling promoted hippocampal neurogenesis. Finally, the data show that the lithium's ability to stimulate neurogenesis and cognitive functions was lost in the aged Tg mice, thus indicating that the lithium-induced facilitation of neurogenesis and cognitive functions declines as brain Aβ deposition and pathology increases. Conclusions Lithium, when given on time, stimulates neurogenesis and counteracts AD-like pathology.

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APA 7th

Fiorentini, A., Rosi, M. C., Grossi, C., Luccarini, I., & Casamenti, F. (2010). Lithium improves hippocampal neurogenesis, neuropathology and cognitive functions in APP mutant mice. PloS one. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0014382

Vancouver

Fiorentini A, Rosi MC, Grossi C, Luccarini I, Casamenti F. Lithium improves hippocampal neurogenesis, neuropathology and cognitive functions in APP mutant mice. PloS one. 2010. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014382. PMID: 21187954.

BibTeX

@article{fiorentini2010-21187954,
  author  = {Fiorentini, A. and Rosi, M. C. and Grossi, C. and Luccarini, I. and Casamenti, F.},
  title   = {{Lithium improves hippocampal neurogenesis, neuropathology and cognitive functions in APP mutant mice}},
  journal = {PloS one},
  year    = {2010},
  doi     = {10.1371/journal.pone.0014382},
  pmid    = {21187954},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0014382}
}

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Effect: the record gives no effect size, so the summary above cannot say how large any difference was.

What the evidence grade means here

This page is graded low. alzhub.org assigns the grade automatically from keywords in the abstract, not from reading the paper. Low means the abstract matched neither pattern. It is the default label, and it does not mean the work is poor; many sound lab and imaging papers land here. It can add at most 5 of the 100 points in the study score, and it is a label about design, not a verdict on whether the findings are true.

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Key findings

Adult hippocampal neurogenesis plays an important role in learning and memory processes and its abnormal regulation might account for cognitive impairments associated with AD.
BrdU labelling showed a decreased neurogenesis in the subgranular zone of Tg mice compared to non-Tg mice.
Lithium treatment to 2-month-old Tg mice significantly stimulated the proliferation and neuron fate specification of newborn cells and fully counteracted the transgene-induced impairments of cognitive functions.

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Study details

Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 40/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multicenter collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 23 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 40 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (PloS one)
Journal's citation record	— / 4	No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score
Study design	0 / 12	No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Strength of evidence	1 / 5	Rated “low” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	1 / 5	2010 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	0 / 4	Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	0 / 3	Laboratory or animal study (title names “mice”) — scores zero
Randomized / blinded	0 / 2	No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	— / 7	No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score
Citations per year	— / 5	No citation count or no year — left out of this score
Impact for its field and year	— / 6	No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score
Cited by studies here	— / 6	Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score
Still being cited	— / 4	No yearly citation counts — left out of this score
Senior author's track record	— / 4	Senior author's record not available — left out of this score
Institution's track record	— / 3	No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score
Multicenter collaboration	— / 3	Institutions not listed — left out of this score
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 21187954)
Free to read	2 / 2	Free to read
Points	23 / 58	Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 23 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 40 out of 100.
Total	40 / 100	—

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