Masato Nanri (1,2,*), Nobuo Kasahara (1), Jyunji Yamamoto (1), Hidekazu
Miyake (1) and Hiroshi Watanabe (2)
(1) Department of Pharmacology, Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., 224-2
Ebisuno, Hiraishi, Kawauchi-cho, Tokushima 771-01, Japan
(2) Department of Pharmacology, Research Institute for Wakan-Yaku (Oriental
Medicines), Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University, 2630 Sugitani,
Toyama 930-01, Japan
(*) To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract: Effect of subchronically administered GTS-21 [3-(2,4-dimethoxybenzylidene)-anabaseine
dihydrochloride], a selective nicotinic agonist, on neuronal cell loss caused
by nucleus basalis magnocellularis (nBM) lesion was studied in rats. After
2 weeks of bilateral nBM excitotoxic lesion, GTS-21 was orally administered
once daily for 20 weeks. Neuronal cell loss was observed in layers II-III
of the parietal cortex in the lesioned control rats. GTS-21 significantly
attenuated the neuron loss in these layers. These results suggest that GTS-21
exhibits a protective action against the neuronal cell death in the parietal
cortex and may have a beneficial effect on neurodegenerative disorders such
as an Alzheimer-type disease.
Keywords: GTS-21, Nicotinic agonist, Neuronal cell loss