RxPG News Feed for RxPG News

Medical Research Health Special Topics World
  Home
 
   Health
 Aging
 Asian Health
 Events
 Fitness
 Food & Nutrition
 Happiness
 Men's Health
 Mental Health
 Occupational Health
 Parenting
 Public Health
 Sleep Hygiene
 Women's Health
 
   Healthcare
 Africa
 Australia
 Canada Healthcare
 China Healthcare
 India Healthcare
 New Zealand
 South Africa
 UK
 USA
 World Healthcare
 
   Latest Research
 Aging
  Dementia
   Alzheimer's
  Parkinson's
 Alternative Medicine
 Anaethesia
 Biochemistry
 Biotechnology
 Cancer
 Cardiology
 Clinical Trials
 Cytology
 Dental
 Dermatology
 Embryology
 Endocrinology
 ENT
 Environment
 Epidemiology
 Gastroenterology
 Genetics
 Gynaecology
 Haematology
 Immunology
 Infectious Diseases
 Medicine
 Metabolism
 Microbiology
 Musculoskeletal
 Nephrology
 Neurosciences
 Obstetrics
 Ophthalmology
 Orthopedics
 Paediatrics
 Pathology
 Pharmacology
 Physiology
 Physiotherapy
 Psychiatry
 Radiology
 Rheumatology
 Sports Medicine
 Surgery
 Toxicology
 Urology
 
   Medical News
 Awards & Prizes
 Epidemics
 Launch
 Opinion
 Professionals
 
   Special Topics
 Ethics
 Euthanasia
 Evolution
 Feature
 Odd Medical News
 Climate

Last Updated: Oct 11, 2012 - 10:22:56 PM
Research Article
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Alzheimer's Channel

subscribe to Alzheimer's newsletter
Latest Research : Aging : Dementia : Alzheimer's

   EMAIL   |   PRINT
Excessive peroxidase of amyloid-beta- understanding Alzheimers

Mar 15, 2006 - 12:59:00 AM , Reviewed by: Sanjukta Acharya

 
[RxPG] Researchers at Children's Hospital & Research Center at Oakland (CHRCO) have published a new study that is the first to explain how brain cells die in patients with Alzheimer's Disease. This discovery is an important first step to helping researchers devise ways to slow, prevent and eventually cure a disease that affects an estimated 4.5 million Americans.
In a study published in the February 28th issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, lead scientist Hani Atamna, Ph.D., found that alterations in the production of heme (a molecule that contains iron) may be the key to understanding why excessive amyloid-beta is toxic to brain cells. Dr. Atamna had previously discovered that Alzheimer's patients have abnormal amounts of heme in their brains. In new research results, Atamna's team showed that amyloid-beta readily binds with heme to form a compound that can be flushed from cells. When there is insufficient heme or too much amyloid-beta, however, the amyloid-beta forms large toxic "clumps" that the cell cannot dissolve and eliminate.

Though heme binding with amyloid-beta can be beneficial, if too much heme is bound up with amyloid-beta, there may be insufficient heme available for the cell to properly function. When this happens, the cell's mitochondria, which are the tiny structures inside brain cells that produce the energy the cells need to function, begin to decay. Dr. Atamna refers to this phenomenon as a "functional heme deficiency" because the cells are still forming heme, but it is trapped within an amyloid-beta/heme compound.

When they examined the heme/ amyloid-beta compound researchers in the Atamna laboratory were surprised to discover it was a peroxidase--a type of enzyme that reacts harmfully with biological materials essential for proper brain function such as serotonin and L-DOPA. Dr. Atamna believes that the combination of functional heme deficiency, which harms mitochondria needed to produce energy, together with the increase in oxidative damage caused by the peroxidase, is what eventually kills the cell.

"Until now, we didn't understand all the factors that trigger Alzheimer's disease. The discovery of the formation of amyloid-beta peroxidase provides a clear picture of why cells die in the brain of Alzheimer's patients. Our next challenge is to develop drugs that directly and selectively target the excessive peroxidase of amyloid-beta, which could lead to the first significant therapy for Alzheimer's disease."




Publication: Children's Hospital & Research Center at Oakland

Advertise in this space for $10 per month. Contact us today.


Related Alzheimer's News


Subscribe to Alzheimer's Newsletter

Enter your email address:


 Feedback
For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 
Contact us

RxPG Online

Nerve

 

    Full Text RSS

© All rights reserved by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited (India)