On-Site PhD conferral Ellis Nelissen

Key words: Dementia, memory, neuropharmacology, signal transduction

"Soluble guanylate cyclase as a novel target for cognition enhancement"

Soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) is a protein that serves important functions in many different cell-types and tissues, including neurons and blood vessels. In neurons, the activity of sGC is important for healthy memory functioning, while in blood vessels sGC regulates vasodilation and endothelial cell functioning. Therefore, enhancing sGC activity could be a good strategy for not only improving memory functioning, but also improving (cerebro)vascular health, for example in patients suffering from vascular cognitive impairment. However, so far, very little research has focused on sGC for enhancing memory. Therefore, this thesis specifically investigated the memory enhancing potential of sGC modulators, pharmacological compounds that enhance sGC activity. It was found that sGC modulators can improve both long-term memory and short-term memory in rodents, via brain-specific mechanisms. Future research should therefore focus on disease modelling to further investigate sGC as a target for the treatment of cognitive impairments.

Click here for the live stream.