Nerdy Science Blog

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have identified a possible toxicity mechanism that causes Parkinson’s disease.

Lewy body is abnormal aggregated proteins inside cells. Neurologists have observed in the damaged parts of brains in the patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease for decades. The appearance of Lewy body shows that protein recycling and waste disposal could be the reason that leads to Parkinson’s disease.

A study that is going to be published in Jan 2, 2009 issue of Science shows a possible toxicity pathway that kill the brain cells and cause Parkinson’s disease. A protein component of Lewy body, alpha-synuclein, is interfering with the recycling of MEF2D. This explains why MEF2D is abundant in patients with Parkinson’s disease. MEF2D is a transcription factor that regulates the activity of the gene. It binds to DNA to control the gene, hence controlling development and survival of brain cells, as shown in many studies.

This finding helps researcher understand the pathway for controlling cell loss and survival in Parkinson’s disease, hence develop drugs which help MEF2D to be more toxic resistance.

(news)

Monash University

A Monash University PhD student has developed a new technique that could revolutionise stem cell treatment for Parkinson’s disease and spinal cord injury.

David Nisbet from Monash University’s Department of Materials Engineering has used existing polymer-based biodegradable fibres, 100 times smaller than a human hair, and re-engineered them to create a unique 3-D scaffold that could potentially allow stem cells to repair damaged nerves in the human body more quickly and effectively.