Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative
disease characterized clinically by insidious onset of
memory and cognition impairment, emergence of psychiatric
symptoms and behavioral disorder, and impairment
of activities of daily living. It is the most frequent form of
dementia found in the elderly. It is estimated that the
prevalence of AD over the age of 85 may be as high as
25~50%, and AD is increasingly being recognized as one
of the most important medical problems in the elderly.
With the increasing number of elderly and growing of life
expansion, more people will be suffered from AD, thus
give a great economic burden to the families, the caregivers
and the whole society. Since detailed molecular
mechanisms underline the pathophysiology of AD are still
remained to be clarified, currently available drug therapies
for AD consist primarily of cholinesterase inhibitors
(donepezil, galantamine, rivastigmine, Huperzine A) and
an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist (memantine)
approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration