Scientists: century-old drug might cure Parkinson's, more
Aug. 18, 2008
Courtesy Chil­dren's Hos­pi­tal &
Re­search Cen­ter Oak­land
and World Science staff
A study with mice sug­gests a century-old drug, meth­yl­ene blue, could slow 
or even cure Alz­heim­er's and Park­in­son's dis­ease in small doses, 
re­search­ers say.

"To find that such a com­mon and in­ex­pen­sive drug can be used to 
in­crease and pro­long the qual­ity of life by treat­ing such se­ri­ous 
dis­eases is truly ex­cit­ing," said Bruce Ames, a co-author of the study at 
Chil­dren's Hos­pi­tal & Re­search Cen­ter Oak­land, in Cal­i­for­nia.

Mi­to­chon­dria are small com­part­ments par­ti­tioned by mem­branes and 
found in com­plex cells. These or­ganelles are of­ten called the "power 
plants" of the cell be­cause their main job is to make en­er­gy. Above, a a 
mi­to­chon­d­rion shown in an ar­tist's de­pic­tion for clar­ity. (Im­age 
cour­te­sy US Nat'l Sci­ence Founda­tion)

Led by Hani Atamna at the center, re­search­ers stud­ied the drug's ef­fects 
on lab­ora­tory-cultured cells and mice.

In very low con­centra­t­ion­s-the equiv­a­lent of a few rain­drops in four 
Olym­pic-sized swim­ming pools-the drug slows cel­lu­lar ag­ing and 
en­hances the func­tion of cel­lu­lar "power plants" called mi­to­chon­dria, 
the ex­pe­ri­menters said.

Their re­sults ap­peared in the March is­sue of the Fed­er­a­t­ion of 
Amer­i­can So­ci­eties for Ex­pe­ri­men­tal Bi­ol­o­gy Jour­nal.

The group found meth­yl­ene blue could pre­vent or slow mi­to­chon­drial 
de­cline, spe­cif­ic­ally that of an im­por­tant en­zyme called com­plex IV. 
Mi­to­chon­dria are the main en­er­gy sup­pli­ers to an­i­mal and hu­man 
cells.

"The re­sults are very encourag­ing," said Atam­na. "One of the key as­pects 
of Alz­heim­er's dis­ease is mi­to­chon­drial dys­func­tion, spe­cif­ic­ally 
com­plex IV dys­func­tion," he went on. Meth­yl­ene blue seems to ex­pand 
the brain's "mi­to­chon­drial re­serve," he added, "essen­tial for 
pre­vent­ing age-related dis­or­ders."

Dis­cov­ered in 1891, meth­yl­ene blue is used to treat 
me­the­mo­glo­bine­mia, a blood dis­or­der. But be­cause high 
con­centra­t­ions of meth­yl­ene blue were known to dam­age the brain, no 
one thought to ex­pe­ri­ment with low con­centra­t­ions, Atam­na's group 
said. Al­so, drugs such as meth­yl­ene blue don't easily reach the brain.

Atamna said meth­yl­ene blue could be­come an­oth­er com­monplace low-cost 
treat­ment like as­pi­rin, pre­scribed as a blood thin­ner for peo­ple with 
heart dis­or­ders.

Rayilyn Brown
Director AZNPF
Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation
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