For example, oral administration of isolichenan, an alpha-glucan from the lichen Cetrariella islandica, to ethanol-fed mice was able to reverse the ethanol-induced impairment in memory acquisition assessed by passive avoidance tests.18 Furthermore, an attenuation of spatial memory deficits during testing in the Morris water maze were observed with isolichenan ingestion in rats exposed to beta-amyloid peptide (A-beta), a small protein associated with the neurologic deterioration of Alzheimer's disease. This evidence concerns the gene APP and early-onset autosomal dominant Alzheimer disease.