#79: Nerve University - Installment #3 [25:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (916)

Installment #2 of Nerve University - Education, Research and Scholarship in Neurology.

• What Triggers Huntington’s Disease?
  • Listen and learn how oxidative DNA damage to the genes leads to subsequent defective enzymes, resulting in the formation and accumulation of toxic proteins.
  • This may be a model for how other neurodegenerative diseases progress - Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s included.
  • Essentially with this information, we are treated to an exposition of how aging likely results in disease-mediated neuronal death.
  • Treatment for Huntington’s may some day be primarily gene-based (for example using ‘neurturin.’ Until then, might antioxidants like CoQ10, carotenoids, ascorbate, tocopherols, selenium, bioflavanoids be of help? Experimental data are consistent in demonstrating neuroprotection from some of the antioxidants.
• Glial Cells Worsen ALS Pathology - through mechanism involving mutated superoxide dismutase gene:
  • In more ‘oxidation-antioxidation’ news related to neurodegeneration we learn that a defective form of this key antioxidant enzyme (SOD) in glial cells is the probable cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
  • Maybe SOD enzyme therapy, gene therapy, stem cell therapy or anti-SOD immunotherapy will someday be found helpful for treating or curing ALS.

And Last but not least: Do shifty eyes mean lies, or better learning?

Next week’s show: Our 7th installment of Defeating Dementia - Promising news and approaches for progressive brain disorders. Focus: The pros and cons of the cholinesterase inhibitors (Exelon, Aricept and Razadyne). We’ll also cover the newly validated CAIDE dementia risk score and more news on the promising Bittsburg B compound, which makes beta-amyloid in the brain visible on PET scans. It’s an exciting potential tool to assess and track Alzheimer’s progression.

Weblinks:

• Review of antioxidants for neuroprotection (NIH).
• Early evidence of CoQ10’s ability to help Huntington’s.
• Research suggesting CoQ10 may help Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Other References:

• Coenzyme Q10 enrichment decreases oxidative DNA damage in human lymphocytes: Tomasetti M., Littarru G.P., Stocker R., Alleva R.: Free Radic Biol Med. 27: 1027-1032, 1999
• Energy metabolism defects in Huntington’s disease and effects of coenzyme Q10: Koroshetz WJ, Jenkins BG, Rosen BR, Beal MF. . Ann Neurol. 1997;41(2):160-165.