Oxidative stress and angiogenic factors have been placed as the prime focus of scientific investigations after an establishment of link between vascular endothelial growth factor promoter (VEGF), hypoxia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) pathogenesis. Deletion of the hypoxia-response element in the vascular endothelial growth factor promoter and mutant superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) which are characterised by atrophy and muscle weakness resulted in phenotype resembling human ALS in mice. This results in lower motor neurodegeneration thus establishing an important link between motor neuron degeneration, vasculature, and angiogenic molecules. In this review, we have presented human, animal, and in vitro studies which suggest that molecules like VEGF have a therapeutic, diagnostic, and prognostic potential in ALS. Involvement of vascular growth factors and hypoxia response elements also highlights the converging role of oxidative stress and neurovascular network for understanding and treatment of various neurodegenerative disorders like ALS.

Dementia is a clinical syndrome with abnormal degree of memory loss and impaired ability to recall events from the past often characterized by Alzheimer's disease. The various strategies to treat dementia need validation of novel compounds in suitable animal models for testing their safety and efficacy. These may include novel anti-amnesic drugs derived from synthetic chemistry or those derived from traditional herbal sources. Multiple approaches have been adopted to create reliable animal models ranging from rodents to non-human primates, where the animals are exposed to a predetermined injury or causing genetic ablation across specific regions of brain suspected to affect learning functions. In this review various animal models for Alzheimer's disease and treatment strategies in development of anti dementia drugs are discussed and an attempt has been made to provide a comprehensive report of the latest developments in the field.

We aimed to identify the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP-1) as a serum biomarker of symptomatic carotid atherosclerotic plaque in North Indian population. Individuals with symptomatic carotid atherosclerotic plaque have high risk of ischemic stroke. Previous studies from western countries have shown an association between VEGF and MCP-1 levels and the incidence of ischemic stroke. In this study, venous blood from 110 human subjects was collected, 57 blood samples of which were obtained from patients with carotid plaques, 38 neurological controls without carotid plaques, and another 15 healthy controls who had no history of serious illness. Serum VEGF and MCP-1 levels were measured using commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. We also correlated the data clinically and carried out risk factor analysis based on the detailed questionnaire obtained from each patient. For risk factor analysis, a total of 70 symptomatic carotid plaque cases and equal number of age and sex matched healthy controls were analyzed. We found that serum VEGF levels in carotid plaque patients did not show any significant change when compared to either of the controls. Similarly, there was no significant upregulation of MCP-1 in the serum of these patients. The risk factor analysis revealed that hypertension, diabetes, and physical inactivity were the main correlates of carotid atherosclerosis (p < 0.05). Prevalence of patients was higher residing in urban areas as compared to rural region. We also found that patients coming from mountain region were relatively less vulnerable to cerebral atherosclerosis as compared to the ones residing at non mountain region. On the contrary, smoking, obesity, dyslipidemia, alcohol consumption, and tobacco chewing were not observed as the determinants of carotid atherosclerosis risk in North India (p > 0.05). We conclude that the pathogenesis of carotid plaques may progress independent of these inflammatory molecules. In parallel, risk factor analysis indicates hypertension, diabetes, and sedentary lifestyle as the most significant risk factors of ischemic stroke identified in North India. This could be helpful in early identification of subjects at risk for stroke and devising health care strategies.

Introduction: Evidence-based information about cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of biomarkers in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is limited. Methods: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptor vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2), optineurin (OPTN), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), angiogenin (ANG), and TAR DNA-binding protein (TDP-43) were quantified by enzyme-linked immunoassay in the CSF of 54 patients with sporadic ALS and 32 controls in a case-control study design.

BackgroundEnzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) is very sensitive assay which provides quantitative data about expression of antigens. However, its utility is based on certain parameters which vary in the experimental situations.PurposeWe aimed to analyse the dilution factor as an important parameter for determining the sensitivity of ELISA in human samples.MethodsTotal of n = 57 ALS patients and n = 48 normal controls were selected for the study. All the patients were recruited from, Department for Neurology and Anaesthesia, PGIMER. Blood and CSF sample was collected and ELISA run was performed in both plasma and blood sample. ELISA of OPTN and TDP-43 was employed to check the respective protein concentration in CSF and Plasma.ResultsThere was no significant difference which was reported for Plasma as well as CSF values of TDP-43 and OPTN. Dilution test prior to actual experiment made a significant impact in deciding the actual concentration of sample and led to overshootingbeyond range of reference protein.ConclusionNegative results from our study highlights the significance of determining the dilution factor as an important parameter for conduct of ELISA.