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A probable cause for Parkinson's?
June 28, 2006Largest, most detailed survey of proteins in mouse brain also applies to Alzheimer's and other degenerative brain diseases
RICHLAND, Wash.—Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Lou Gehrig's disease and other brain disorders are among a growing list of maladies attributed to oxidative stress, the cell damage caused during metabolism when the oxygen in the body assumes ever more chemically reactive forms.
But the precise connection between oxidation and neurodegenerative diseases has eluded researchers. Now, a study by the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine reveals that damage is linked to a natural byproduct of oxidation called nitration.
"We looked at a healthy brain and found nitration of proteins that are implicated in neurodegenerative disease," said Colette Sacksteder, PNNL scientist and lead author of the study, published in the July issue of the journal Biochemistry (online Wed., June 28). PNNL scientist Wei-Jun Qian was co-lead author.
The results are from the most detailed proteomic analysis of a mammalian brain to date — that is, a survey of nearly 8,000 different, detectable proteins in the mouse brain. The research suggests that many neurodegenerative diseases leave a biochemical calling card, or biomarker, that could be used to predict the earliest stages of brain impairment. Many biomedical researchers believe that detecting disease states before symptoms occur is the key to reversing many as-yet-incurable diseases.
The biomarker is known as nitrotyrosine, made when an amino acid in the brain, tyrosine, is in the presence of an oxidative-stress molecule called peroxynitrate. The biomarker was found on 31 sites along 29 different proteins, half of which had been previously implicated in several of the neurodegenerative diseases.
"Our study certainly suggests that the sensitivity of certain proteins to peroxynitrite is an early contributor to neurodegeneration, but other factors may also be involved," said Diana Bigelow, PNNL staff scientist and the paper's corresponding author. "The next step, of explicitly looking at tissues with neurodegenerative disease, will test this hypothesis."
DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
"We looked at a healthy brain and found nitration of proteins that are implicated in neurodegenerative disease," said Colette Sacksteder, PNNL scientist and lead author of the study, published in the July issue of the journal Biochemistry (online Wed., June 28). PNNL scientist Wei-Jun Qian was co-lead author.
The results are from the most detailed proteomic analysis of a mammalian brain to date — that is, a survey of nearly 8,000 different, detectable proteins in the mouse brain. The research suggests that many neurodegenerative diseases leave a biochemical calling card, or biomarker, that could be used to predict the earliest stages of brain impairment. Many biomedical researchers believe that detecting disease states before symptoms occur is the key to reversing many as-yet-incurable diseases.
The biomarker is known as nitrotyrosine, made when an amino acid in the brain, tyrosine, is in the presence of an oxidative-stress molecule called peroxynitrate. The biomarker was found on 31 sites along 29 different proteins, half of which had been previously implicated in several of the neurodegenerative diseases.
"Our study certainly suggests that the sensitivity of certain proteins to peroxynitrite is an early contributor to neurodegeneration, but other factors may also be involved," said Diana Bigelow, PNNL staff scientist and the paper's corresponding author. "The next step, of explicitly looking at tissues with neurodegenerative disease, will test this hypothesis."
DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Neurodegenerative Disease Current Events and Neurodegenerative Disease News RSSNovel mouse gene reduces major pathologies associated with Alzheimer's disease
A new study reveals that a previously undiscovered mouse gene reduces the two major pathological perturbations commonly associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Mouse gene suppresses Alzheimer's plaques and tangles
Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) and colleagues have identified a novel mouse gene (Rps23r1) that reduces the accumulation of two toxic proteins that are major players in Alzheimer's disease: amyloid beta and tau.
Widely used cholesterol-lowering drug may prevent progression
Simvastatin, a commonly used, cholesterol-lowering drug, may prevent Parkinson's disease from progressing further. Neurological researchers at Rush University Medical Center conducted a study examining the use of the FDA-approved medication in mice with Parkinson's disease and found that the drug successfully reverses the biochemical, cellular and anatomical changes caused by the disease.
Member of NFL Hall of Fame diagnosed with degenerative brain disease
The Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) announced today that a recently deceased member of the NFL Hall of Fame suffered from the degenerative brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) when he died, becoming the 10th former NFL player diagnosed with the disease.
First former college football player diagnosed with CTE
The Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) announced today that a deceased former college football player who died at age 42 was already suffering from the degenerative brain disease, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).
Natural compounds, chemotherapeutic drugs may become partners in cancer therapy
Research in the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University suggests that some natural food compounds, which previously have been studied for their ability to prevent cancer, may be able to play a more significant role in treating it - working side-by-side with the conventional drugs that are now used in chemotherapy.
August 10, 2009 New Class of Compounds Discovered for Potential Alzheimer's Disease Drug, Penn Study Finds
A new class of molecules capable of blocking the formation of specific protein clumps that are believed to contribute to the dementia of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients has been discovered by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Caffeine reverses memory impairment in Alzheimer's mice
Coffee drinkers may have another reason to pour that extra cup. When aged mice bred to develop symptoms of Alzheimer's disease were given caffeine - the equivalent of five cups of coffee a day - their memory impairment was reversed.
Huntington's disease deciphered
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have discovered how the mutated huntingtin gene acts on the nervous system to create the devastation of Huntington's disease.
What separates dangerous blood vessel plaques from benign ones
Researchers say they have evidence to explain what separates your average blood vessel plaque from those that are at high risk for triggering the development of dangerous-even fatal-blood clots.
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