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FYI

*Drug induces nerves to repair themselves

*By Wai Lang Chu

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10/01/2006 - *New drugs that are based on a compound found in the body

may give renewed hope to stroke victims and sufferers of degenerative

brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s as researchers are hopeful of a new

therapeutic approach.*

Current Alzheimers

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drugs are restricted in its effectiveness because of side effects. This

new finding has generated a lot of excitement as it specifically targets

the nerve cells avoiding other cell types.

/ " Of even more importance, these drugs may be much less toxic than prior

drugs in this class, " / said Professor Stuart Lipton, study author and

director of the Centre for Neurosciences and Aging at the Burnham

Institute.

This study represents the first reported evidence that this protective

response can be activated directly in nerve cells to release

antioxidants and counter oxidative stress, boding well for future research.

The US-Japanese research team, consisting of scientists from the Burnham

Institute of Medical Research in La Jolla, California, and four Japanese

universities, Iwate, Osaka City, Iwate Medical and Gifu Universities,

experimented on the nerve cells in the brains of mice.

This approach works by inducing nerve cells in the brain and the spine

to release natural antioxidants that protect nerve cells from stress and

free radicals that lead to neurodegenerative diseases.

Until this discovery, researchers were unable to induce release of these

specific antioxidants directly in nerve cells, at the site where damage

and degeneration occurs.

In stroke and various neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's

disease and Lou Gehrig's disease, glutamate, an amino acid found in high

quantities in the brain, is thought to accumulate.

At normal concentrations, glutamate acts as a neurotransmitter that

nerves use to communicate. However, at excessive levels glutamate is

toxic, resulting in over stimulation of nerve cells, known as

excitotoxicity, and causing excessive stress on the nerve cells

eventually ending in cell death.

However Lipton was quick to point out that the study had only been done

in mice, and that a break through was a long way off.

Currently, 24.3 million people are currently estimated to have dementia,

with 4.6 million new cases being diagnosed each year as the population

ages. By 2040 the number is predicted to have risen to 81.1 million.

A report for Alzheimer's Disease International, published in The Lancet,

said that the number of cases of dementia world-wide is likely to double

every 20 years.

The report said most people living with dementia are in the developing

world, with five million in China alone.

This compares with 4.8 million in Western Europe and 3.4 million in

North America.

The paper detailing the findings of this study is entitled " Activation

of the Keap1/Nrf2 Pathway for Neuroprotection by Electrophilic Phase II

Inducers, " is published in the January 17th issue of the Proceedings of

the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.pnas.org/>