Caenorhabditis elegans as a possible model to screen anti-Alzheimer's therapeutics

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is regarded as one of the significant health burdens, as the prevalence is raising worldwide and gradually reaching to epidemic proportions. Consequently, a number of scientific investigations have been initiated to derive therapeutics to combat AD with a concurrent advancement in pharmacological methods and experimental models. Whilst, the available experimental pharmacological approaches both in vivo and in vitro led to the development of AD therapeutics, the precise manner by which experimental models mimic either one or more biomarkers of human pathology of AD is gaining scientific attentions. Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) has been regarded as an emerging model for various reasons, including its high similarities with the biomarkers of human AD. Our review supports the versatile nature of C. elegans and collates that it is a well-suited model to elucidate various molecular mechanisms by which AD therapeutics elicit their pharmacological effects. It is apparent that C. elegans is capable of establishing the pathological processes that links the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria dysfunctions in AD, exploring novel molecular cascades of AD pathogenesis and underpinning causal and consequential changes in the associated proteins and genes. In summary, C. elegans is a unique and feasible model for the screening of anti-Alzheimer's therapeutics and has the potential for further scientific exploration.