EXCLI J EXCLI Journal 1611-2156 Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors 2016-820 10.17179/excli2016-820 Doc35 Letter to the editor Pharmacological aspects of galantamine for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease Kim Jae Kwang 1 Park Sang Un * 2 Division of Life Sciences, College of Life Sciences and Bioengineering, Incheon National University, Incheon, 406-772, Korea Department of Crop Science, Chungnam National University, 99 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34134, Korea *To whom correspondence should be addressed: Sang Un Park, Department of Crop Science, Chungnam National University, 99 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34134, Korea; Tel.: +82-42-822-2631, Fax: +82-42-822-2631, E-mail: supark@cnu.ac.kr 10 01 2017 2017 16 35 39 04 12 2016 04 01 2017 Copyright © 2017 Kim et al. 2017

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

This article is available from http://www.excli.de/vol16/Park_10012017_proof.pdf

Dear Editor,

Galantamine is a natural product belonging to the isoquinoline alkaloid family of compounds. It was first discovered and isolated in the 1950s from Galanthus nivalis (common snowdrop) and Galanthus woronowii (Caucasian snowdrop), members of the Amaryllidaceae family (Marco and do Carmo Carreiras, 2006[20]).

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer, who first identified the disease in 1906. AD slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and is the most frequently diagnosed age-related neurodegenerative disorder (Prvulovic et al., 2010[25]). Galantamine is an acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor and one of the most promising drugs available for the treatment of AD and various other memory impairments (Scott and Goa, 2000[28]; Ago et al., 2011[1]). Synthetic galantamine was first approved for the treatment of AD in Sweden in 2000 and was subsequently approved in the European Union and the United States (Heinrich and Lee Teoh, 2004[13]). In the present report, we reviewed the most recent studies on the pharmacological activity of galantamine (Table 1(Tab. 1)) (References in Table 1: Hager et al., 2016[10]; Hishikawa et al., 2016[14]; Hwang et al., 2016[15]; Wahba et al., 2016[30]; Hanafy et al., 2016[12]; Inden et al., 2016[16]; Bezerra et al., 2016[4]; Misra et al., 2016[21];Oka et al., 2016[23]; Tokuchi et al., 2016[29]; Wu et al., 2015[32]; Nakano et al., 2015[22]; Atanasova et al., 2015[3]; Fornaguera et al., 2015[8]; Woo et al., 2015[31]; Bhattacharya et al., 2015[6]; Jiang et al., 2015[17]; Prins et al., 2014[24]; Alexandrova et al., 2014[2]; Furukawa et al., 2014[9]; Caramelli et al., 2014[7]; Koola et al., 2014[19]; Kita et al., 2014[18]; Hager et al., 2014[11]; Bhattacharya et al., 2014[5]; Richarz et al., 2014[27]; Ramakrishnan et al., 2014[26]).

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (2016M3A9A5919548).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ago Y Koda K Takuma K Matsuda T Pharmacological aspects of the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor galantamine J Pharmacol Sci 2011 116 6 17 Alexandrova EA Alkondon M Aracava Y Pereira EF Albuquerque EX Galantamine prevents long-lasting suppression of excitatory synaptic transmission in CA1 pyramidal neurons of soman-challenged guinea pigs Neurotoxicology 2014 44 270 278 Atanasova M Stavrakov G Philipova I Zheleva D Yordanov N Doytchinova I Galantamine derivatives with indole moiety: Docking, design, synthesis and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity Bioorg Med Chem 2015 23 5382 5389 Bezerra da Silva C Pott A Elifio-Esposito S Dalarmi L Fialho do Nascimento K Moura Burci L Effect of Donepezil, Tacrine, Galantamine and Rivastigmine on acetylcholinesterase inhibition in Dugesia tigrina Molecules 2016 21 53 Bhattacharya S Haertel C Maelicke A Montag D Galantamine slows down plaque formation and behavioral decline in the 5XFAD mouse model of Alzheimer's disease PLoS One 2014 9 2 e89454 Bhattacharya S Maelicke A Montag D Nasal application of the Galantamine Pro-drug Memogain slows down plaque deposition and ameliorates behavior in 5X familial Alzheimer's Disease mice J Alzheimers Dis 2015 46 123 136 Caramelli P Laks J Palmini AL Nitrini R Chaves ML Forlenza OV Effects of galantamine and galantamine combined with nimodipine on cognitive speed and quality of life in mixed dementia: a 24-week, randomized, placebo-controlled exploratory trial (the REMIX study) Arq Neuropsiquiatr 2014 72 411 417 Fornaguera C Feiner-Gracia N Calderó G García-Celma MJ Solans C Galantamine-loaded PLGA nanoparticles, from nano-emulsion templating, as novel advanced drug delivery systems to treat neurodegenerative diseases Nanoscale 2015 7 12076 12084 Furukawa S Yang L Sameshima H Galantamine, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, reduces brain damage induced by hypoxia-ischemia in newborn rats Int J Dev Neurosci 2014 37 52 57 Hager K Baseman AS Nye JS Brashear HR Han J Sano M Effect of concomitant use of memantine on mortality and efficacy outcomes of galantamine-treated patients with Alzheimer's disease: post-hoc analysis of a randomized placebo-controlled study Alzheimers Res Ther 2016 8 47 Hager K Baseman AS Nye JS Brashear HR Han J Sano M Effects of galantamine in a 2-year, randomized, placebo-controlled study in Alzheimer's disease Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat 2014 10 391 401 Hanafy AS Farid RM Helmy MW El Gamal SS Pharmacological, toxicological and neuronal localization assessment of galantamine/chitosan complex nanoparticles in rats: future potential contribution in Alzheimer's disease management Drug Deliv 2016 23 3111 3122 Heinrich M Lee Teoh H Galanthamine from snowdrop-the development of a modern drug against Alzheimer's disease from local Caucasian knowledge J Ethnopharmacol 2004 92 147 162 Hishikawa N Fukui Y Sato K Ohta Y Yamashita T Abe K Comprehensive effects of galantamine and cilostazol combination therapy on patients with Alzheimer's disease with asymptomatic lacunar infarction Geriatr Gerontol Int 31 Aug 2016 epub ahead of print Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ggi.12870 Hwang TY Ahn IS Kim S Kim DK Efficacy of Galantamine on cognition in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's Dementia after failure to respond to Donepezil Psychiatry Invest 2016 13 341 348 Inden M Takata K Yanagisawa D Ashihara E Tooyama I Shimohama S α4 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor modulated by galantamine on nigrostriatal terminals regulates dopamine receptor-mediated rotational behavior Neurochem Int 2016 94 74 81 Jiang D Yang X Li M Wang Y Wang Y Efficacy and safety of galantamine treatment for patients with Alzheimer's disease: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials J Neural Transm 2015 122 1157 1166 Kita Y Ago Y Higashino K Asada K Takano E Takuma K Galantamine promotes adult hippocampal neurogenesis via M₁ muscarinic and α7 nicotinic receptors in mice Int J Neuropsychopharmacol 2014 17 1957 1968 Koola MM Buchanan RW Pillai A Aitchison KJ Weinberger DR Aaronson ST Potential role of the combination of galantamine and memantine to improve cognition in schizophrenia Schizophr Res 2014 157 84 89 Marco L do Carmo Carreiras M Galanthamine, a natural product for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease Recent Pat CNS Drug Discov 2006 1 105 111 Misra S Chopra K Sinha VR Medhi B Galantamine-loaded solid-lipid nanoparticles for enhanced brain delivery: preparation, characterization, in vitro and in vivo evaluations Drug Deliv 2016 23 1434 1443 Nakano Y Matsuzono K Yamashita T Ohta Y Hishikawa N Sato K Long-term efficacy of Galantamine in Alzheimer's Disease: the Okayama Galantamine Study (OGS) J Alzheimers Dis 2015 47 609 617 Oka M Nakaaki S Negi A Miyata J Nakagawa A Hirono N Predicting the neural effect of switching from donepezil to galantamine based on single-photon emission computed tomography findings in patients with Alzheimer's disease Psychogeriatrics 2016 16 121 134 Prins ND van der Flier WA Knol DL Fox NC Brashear HR Nye JS The effect of galantamine on brain atrophy rate in subjects with mild cognitive impairment is modified by apolipoprotein E genotype: post-hoc analysis of data from a randomized controlled trial Alzheimers Res Ther 2014 6 47 Prvulovic D Hampel H Pantel J Galantamine for Alzheimer's disease Expert Opin Drug Metab Toxicol 2010 6 345 354 Ramakrishnan L Amatya C DeSaer CJ Dalhoff Z Eggerichs MR Galantamine reverses scopolamine-induced behavioral alterations in Dugesia tigrina Invert Neurosci 2014 14 91 101 Richarz U Gaudig M Rettig K Schauble B Galantamine treatment in outpatients with mild Alzheimer's disease Acta Neurol Scand 2014 129 382 392 Scott LJ Goa KL Galantamine: a review of its use in Alzheimer's disease Drugs 2000 60 1095 1122 Tokuchi R Hishikawa N Matsuzono K Takao Y Wakutani Y Sato K Cognitive and affective benefits of combination therapy with galantamine plus cognitive rehabilitation for Alzheimer's disease Geriatr Gerontol Int 2016 16 440 445 Wahba SM Darwish AS Kamal SM Ceria-containing uncoated and coated hydroxyapatite-based galantamine nanocomposites for formidable treatment of Alzheimer's disease in ovariectomized albino-rat model Mater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl 2016 65 151 163 Woo FY Basri M Masoumi HR Ahmad MB Ismail M Formulation optimization of galantamine hydrobromide loaded gel drug reservoirs in transdermal patch for Alzheimer's disease Int J Nanomed 2015 10 3879 3886 Wu Z Zhao L Chen X Cheng X Zhang Y Galantamine attenuates amyloid-β deposition and astrocyte activation in APP/PS1 transgenic mice Exp Gerontol 2015 72 244 250 Recent studies on the pharmacological activity of galantamine