note PD treatment below:

Companies looking to spur the growth of new brain cells-a feat that until 
recently most scientists believed was impossible-include Seattle-based Sound 
Pharmaceuticals, which has restored hearing in mice by blocking a protein 
that keeps cells from growing, so that the mice grow new auditory sensory 
cells. "We've seen some neuronal generation, too," says Sound CEO Jonathan 
Kil. Other firms are promoting neuron regeneration to boost cognition and 
combat senility, while others are working to restore the white-matter cells 
that are savaged by Alzheimer's and other diseases. Stem cells-sort of 
generic proto-cells that can be coaxed into maturing into any specific type 
of cell-have also been employed to replace damaged neurons, with some 
encouraging results. Anders Haegerstrand, chief scientific officer of 
Stockholm-based Neuro-Nova, predicts his company will have a stem-cell-based 
Parkinson's treatment on the market by 2013. "I wouldn't dare speak of a 
human cure for the disease," he says, "but we've cured it in many monkeys."

We won't necessarily have to turn to these more radical therapies to sharpen 
our thinking. The genetic and other new scientific insights into the brain 
are also helping to point the way to new drugs targeted at brain 
disorders-drugs that may also end up being taken as smart drugs by many of 
us without serious disorders. About one in five clinical drug trials 
currently underway address brain-related illnesses, including some 300 drugs 
for Alzheimer's alone-and at least 40 of these candidate drugs have the 
potential to end up as IQ- or memory-boosting drugs. Among the many small 
companies that have sprung up to focus on such brain-tuners are CoMentis, a 
South San Francisco firm trying to develop a drug that offers the 
mind-sharpening effects of nicotine without its addictive and other 
unhealthy aspects; San Diego-based Helicon Therapeutics, which is working 
with a protein that links short- and long-term memories; and San Diego-based 
Ceregene, which is looking at injectable viruses that activate invigorating 
"nerve growth factors" in brain cells. Accera in Broomfield, Colorado, 
already markets an FDA-approved, prescription-only "medical food" designed 
to get extra energy to brain cells, and it has been shown in studies to 
slight-ly boost cognitive test scores for some Alzheimer's sufferers and 
others. "The scores start improving within 30 minutes of drinking it," 
boasts Accera CEO Steve Orndorff.
The lineup of drugs is likely to lengthen rapidly in the coming years as new 
discoveries spill out of the lab. In just the past year researchers have 
found that a protein known as "death receptor 6," which plays a role in the 
normal development and selective "pruning" of brain and other cells, also 
appears to wreak wholesale havoc in the brains of those suffering from 
Alzheimer's and other disorders, causing brain cells to essentially commit 
suicide. Chemicals that block DR6 have already shown promise in the lab as a 
way of preserving cognition and memory by interrupting the chemical signals 
that appear to trigger the mass suicides. The biotech company Genentech in 
South San Francisco has already achieved some success with DR6 blockers in 
slowing brain disease in mice, and may be ready to start human trials next 
year. In theory, such blockers might also eventually prove useful in slowing 
memory loss and confusion even in normal aging brains. Other research has 
turned up molecules in the brain that appear to be critical for forming 
memories, and studies have shown that injecting these chemicals into brains 
can improve memory in mice. Labs have even demonstrated drugs that block 
memories, a technique that could in theory restore and sharpen minds by 
helping to selectively erase traumatic and distracting thoughts-an idea that 
seemed farfetched when fictionally showcased in the 2004 movie Eternal 
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. "It would be great to have this sort of drug 
in the toolbox for working with traumatic memories that don't respond to 
other techniques," says Naomi Mael Litrownik, a Needham, Massachusetts, 
therapist who works with traumatized patients.

Some of the most striking results in altering brain function have come not 
from genomic science as much as from advanced imaging techniques, which give 
scientists a view of how the brain functions. Until about five years ago, 
scientists were sure higher intelligence was mostly seated in the front 
section of the outer layer of the brain, but now it's clear that the sides 
and back of this "gray matter" contribute as well-in fact, the more gray 
matter a person has anywhere in the skull, the higher his or her IQ is 
likely to be, as a rough rule. The amount and quality of the "white matter" 
underneath, which harbors the physical connections between brain cells, are 
linked to intelligence as well.

Knowing this brain structure in detail has allowed scientists to experiment 
with applying electric signals directly to various parts of the brain via 
implanted wires and devices. Neuro-Nexus, for in-stance, hopes to improve 
its spinal-cord chip therapy by enabling doctors to adjust, via trial and 
error, which of thousands of nodes on the chip are activated, fine-tuning 
patient response as different brain cells get juiced. Such deep-brain 
stimulation has not only been shown to smooth tremors and fend off seizures, 
but has also in many cases been associated with cognitive and personality 
changes, holding out the possibility that mental acuity and mood could 
someday be fine-tuned as well. It may not even require brain surgery, notes 
Will Rosellini, CEO of MicroTransponder, a Dallas startup that's on the way 
to bringing to market a device that stimulates the vagus nerve in the neck. 
"It's a way of reprogramming the cortex from outside the brain, and some of 
the results are very exciting," he says.

Many of these experimental drugs and treatments are likely to wash out due 
to side effects, and even if they don't, government regulators aren't likely 
to approve their use for anyone who doesn't suffer from a serious disorder. 
Some researchers are hoping to develop more natural methods that could have 
the same IQ-boosting effect in healthy people as drugs and other treatments. 
The adult brain has turned out to have a surprising ability to extensively 
reconfigure its connections through mental exercises. Most of us have parts 
of our brains that are relatively neglected, says Daniel Siegel, an 
associate clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA Medical School, and we 
can restore them by techniques such as focusing on nonverbal cues when we're 
conversing with other people, being more aware of what we're thinking, and 
easing up on the multitasking. "When you do several things at once you tend 
to do them on autopilot, and fail to engage the parts of the brain that form 
strong neural connections," explains Siegel. For many people, however, the 
temptation of neuroenhancers may be hard to resist. The ethical dilemma it 
poses is a side effect of our new knowledge of the cell.
© 2009

Rayilyn Brown
Director AZNPF
Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation
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