115 commonly prescribed cardiovascular drugs used in screening for potential Aβ-modifying activity.

The 115 cardiovascular agents were obtained as part of the Spectrum Collection from MicroSource Discovery Systems Inc. and listed in 4 pharmacological categories (source: Physician’s Desk Reference and Martindale Complete Drug Reference). Potential Aβ-modifying activity was assessed using primary cortico-hippocampal neuron cultures derived from embryonic Tg2576 AD mice and the levels of Aβ in the conditioned medium were measured and expressed as percentage of vehicle-treated control (Aβ column). In the high-throughput screening studies, 13 drugs lowered the Aβ content greater than 30% and two drugs (in bold and Italic) increased Aβ content greater than 30% compared to the vehicle controls. The 13 Aβ-lowering drugs were proceeded to a follow-up dose dependent test and the 8 drugs in bold were found to exert significant dose dependent Aβ -lowering activity in the absence of cellular toxicity. “–” indicates that the drug is toxic for primary neurons at 100 µM.