Antihypertensive therapies acting via the renin-angiotensin system may offer therapeutic potential for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's disease through mechanisms beyond blood pressure control.
Do antihypertensive therapies acting via the renin-angiotensin system improve cognitive function and prevent or treat Alzheimer's disease?
This review highlights the potential of renin-angiotensin system modulators as therapeutic or preventive agents for Alzheimer's disease, independent of their blood pressure-lowering effects.
This review describes the features of Alzheimer's disease and discusses the evidence that antihypertensive therapies may be beneficial in its treatment and prevention. Drugs acting via the renin-angiotensin system are considered and it is suggested that these drugs may produce their effects via mechanisms other than by their antihypertensive actions. Using evidence from animal studies, the role of angiotensin as a neurotransmitter and its involvement in the control of normal cognitive function is described. Studies of angiotensin and human cognition are reviewed along with studies investigating the possible link between disorders of the system, either inherited or acquired, and the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. The therapeutic potential of screening for markers of renin-angiotensin abnormality for the prediction of Alzheimer's disease is considered, as is the potential use of agents known to influence the renin-angiotensin system in the treatment or prevention of the disease.
Gard et al. (2004) conducted a review in Alzheimer's disease. Drugs acting via the renin-angiotensin system was evaluated. Antihypertensive therapies acting via the renin-angiotensin system may offer therapeutic potential for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's disease through mechanisms beyond blood pressure control.