Daily non-political popular news in brief.

Insight into dopamine role suggests new treatment pathway for Parkinson's

10-18-2006 · EurekAlert!

Dopamine (DA) not only functions as a neurotransmitter, a chemical messenger between neurons by which one neuron triggers another, researchers have found. It also appears to coordinate the activity of a particular neural circuitry. In studies with mice, they found evidence that the dopamine deficiency in Parkinson's and other related movement disorders may cause loss of muscle control and paralysis due to disruption of coordinated activity in this circuit.

Keywords: insight, dopamine, role, suggests, treatment, pathway, parkinson, suggest

« Previous | Next »

Similar news on "Insight into dopamine role suggests new treatment pathway for Parkinson's":

Tracing Parkinson's lethal mechanism
07-05-2007 · EurekAlert!
In the vast majority of Parkinson's disease patients, the disorder arises not because of a genetic defect, but because some external insult triggers the death of dopamine-producing neurons. Now, researchers have reported progress in understanding the mechanism underlying that death, which they say suggests a new treatment pathway.
Similar news · Read more »
Study reveals a key to blood vessel growth and possible drug target
10-14-2007 · EurekAlert!
Researchers have identified a molecular pathway that plays a critical role in the growth of blood vessels. The finding not only offers an important insight into the development of the vascular system during embryonic development but suggests a potential target for inhibiting the blood vessels that fuel cancers, diabetic eye complications and atherosclerosis, the researchers say.
Similar news · Read more »
USC-led study suggests exercise reduces risk of developing invasive breast cancer
02-26-2007 · EurekAlert!
Significant findings have emerged from the California Teachers Study (CTS) that suggest long-term recreational physical activity plays a protective role against invasive and in situ breast cancer.
Similar news · Read more »
Is the treatment of Parkinson's disease possible with a new neurotrophic factor in the future?
07-04-2007 · EurekAlert!
The research group led by Mart Saarma, Director of the Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, has discovered a novel neurotrophic factor CDNF (Conserved Dopamine Neurotrophic Factor). CDNF was shown to protect and even rescue damaged dopamine neurons in an experimental model of Parkinson's disease in studies performed by the research group of professor Raimo K. Tuominen, faculty of pharmacy, University of Helsinki. More importantly, also the function of the neurons was recovered after an experimental lesion of the dopamine neurons in Substantia Nigra.
Similar news · Read more »
Role of autophagy in tumorigenesis
05-17-2007 · EurekAlert!
In the June 1 issue of G&D, Dr. Eileen White and colleagues at Rutgers University/University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey/Cancer Institute of New Jersey, report, for the first time, that the cellular self-digesting process of autophagy can protect genome integrity -- lending new insight into the seemingly contradictory roles of autophagy as both a cell survival and tumor suppressor pathway.
Similar news · Read more »
Research links 'ecstasy' to survival of key movement-related cells in brain
10-18-2006 · EurekAlert!
New research from the University of Cincinnati suggests that the widely abused club drug "ecstasy," or MDMA, can increase the survival of dopamine cells in the brain during fetal development. Because these cells are critical in the regulation of voluntary movement, the findings, the researchers say, may lead to better therapies for neurological diseases like Parkinson's.
Similar news · Read more »
Advance in understanding of blood pressure gene could lead to new treatments
02-04-2007 · EurekAlert!
Research by scientists at UCL (University College London) has clearly demonstrated for the first time the structure and function of a gene crucial to the regulation of blood pressure. The discovery could be important in the search for new treatments for illnesses such as heart disease, the UK's biggest killer. In a paper published online today in Nature Medicine, the team, led by Professor Patrick Vallance and Dr James Leiper, UCL Department of Medicine, reveal the role of the human gene dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH), showing that loss of DDAH activity disrupts nitric oxide (NO) production. NO is critical in the regulation of blood pressure, nervous system functions and the immune system. The role of DDAH is to break down modified amino acids (Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and monomethyl arginine (L-NMMA)) that are produced by the body and have been shown to inhibit NO synthase. These molecules accumulate in various disease states including diabetes, renal failure and pulmonary and systemic hypertension, and their concentration in plasma (the fluid component of blood) is strongly predicative of cardiovascular disease and death. In a healthy human body, the majority of ADMA is eliminated through active metabolism by DDAH. Scientists have hypothesised that if DDAH function is impaired, NO production is reduced, and that this could be an important feature of increased cardiovascular risk. To examine this pathway in more detail, the researchers deleted the DDAH gene in mice. These mice went on to develop hypertension, or high blood pressure. They also designed specific inhibitors (small molecules) which bind to the active site of human DDAH. These small molecule inhibitors also induced hypertension in mice, confirming the importance of DDAH in the regulation of blood pressure. Dr Leiper, UCL Medicine, said: “These genetic and chemical approaches to disrupt DDAH showed remarkably consistent results, and provide compelling evidence that loss of DDAH function increases the concentration of ADMA and thereby disrupts vascular NO signalling. “There has been considerable scientific interest in this pathway and the role of ADMA as a novel risk factor, but so far there's been little evidence to support the idea that it's a cause of disease, rather than just a marker. Genes and their pathways are crucial to our understanding of cardiovascular disease and a better understanding of DDAH-1 could lead to important new treatments. “It could help us to establish if genetic variation predisposes certain people to these diseases, or whether environmental factors exert some of their effects through modulation of DDAH activity. “Our research also shows that this pathway could be harnessed therapeutically to limit production of NO in certain situations where too much nitric oxide is a bad thing; for example, hypotension and septic shock. These are some of the biggest problems in intensive care medicine and there is a huge unmet need for drug treatments.” The study, which was carried out at UCL's Rayne Institute, was funded by grants from the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, said: "The unexpected finding in the 1980s that a simple gas, nitric oxide (NO), is made by cells in the blood vessel wall and is a powerful control of blood vessel relaxation led to the award of the Nobel Prize in 1998 to its discoverers. "More recently, there has been increasing evidence that impairment of NO production is likely to be an important factor in the development of heart and circulatory disease, but the mechanisms responsible are not fully understood. "This study suggests for the first time that the loss of the activity of the enzyme DDAH-1 leads to reduced NO production and may cause heart and circulatory disease. These findings are likely to be important in the search for new ways to optimise the health of our blood vessels." ### Notes for Editors 1. For more information, please contact Ruth Metcalfe in the UCL Media Relations Office on tel: +44 (0)20 7679 9739, mobile: +44 (0)7990 675 947, out of hours: +44 (0)7917 271 364, e-mail: r.metcalfe@ucl.ac.uk2. 'Disruption of methylarginine metabolism impairs vascular homeostasis' is published in the February issue of the journal Nature Medicine. Advance online publication is embargoed to 18.00 GMT (13.00 US Eastern) Sunday 4 February 2007. Journalists can obtain copies of the paper by contacting the UCL Media Relations Office.3. The study was funded by the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. About UCL Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. In the government's most recent Research Assessment Exercise, 59 UCL departments achieved top ratings of 5* and 5, indicating research quality of international excellence. UCL is the fourth-ranked UK university in the 2006 league table of the top 500 world universities produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. UCL alumni include Mahatma Gandhi (Laws 1889, Indian political and spiritual leader); Jonathan Dimbleby (Philosophy 1969, writer and television presenter); Junichiro Koizumi (Economics 1969, Prime Minister of Japan); Lord Woolf (Laws 1954, Lord Chief Justice of England & Wales); Alexander Graham Bell (Phonetics 1860s, inventor of the telephone), and members of the band Coldplay.
Similar news · Read more »
Nature and nurture are both to blame for depression, study says
01-15-2008 · EurekAlert!
Depression is one of the most common forms of psychopathology. Studies suggest that the neurotransmitter dopamine may play a role in the risk for depression. Early negative interpersonal environments (i.e., rejecting parents) have also been implicated. New research investigated whether a gene associated with dopamine interacted with maternal parenting style to predict episodes of depression.
Similar news · Read more »
Potential New Target For Leukemia Treatment
10-10-2006 · ScienceDaily
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center researchers have identified the crucial role and novel mechanism of action of the protein RhoH GTPase in the development and activation of cells critical to the immune system. The findings suggest that RhoH GTPase may provide a target for therapeutic intervention in some types of leukemia. The paper is due to appear in an upcoming edition of the journal, Nature Immunology.
Similar news · Read more »
Government dietary guidelines, unintended consequences and public policy
01-30-2008 · EurekAlert!
In the years following the government promotion of a low-fat diet, obesity in America has reached almost epidemic levels. What role did the federal guidelines play? In a study published in the March 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Paul R Marantz, Elizabeth Bird, Michael H. Alderman, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, suggest that the government issued these recommendations based on limited scientific data and assumed that no harm would result, but the evidence now suggests otherwise.
Similar news · Read more »