There is a a debate going on about alpha-synuclein. The question is -- is alpha-synuclein cause or effect? An anti-body has been developed in mice that cleans up and removes the protein. There is also a fly model. Some postulate, that alpha-synuclein is accumulating because something else is going on, and is just a byproduct. >From last CSR by J R Bruman: > Papapetropoulos S et al;J Neur N'surg Psych 2001;70:662-665: > A study of patients having a rare form of PD linked to mutation > of alpha-synuclein revealed younger age at onset, much less > incidence of tremor, and longer duration of the disease. Stem cells are still a hope, but, there are many paths still open to investigation. Understanding of the fundamental cause of PD is still elusive. Ray ................................................................ Sources: Reuters | AP | ABCNEWS.com | HealthSCOUT Saturday June 30 6:46 AM ET Gene Research Suggests How Parkinson's Might Arise By Amy Norton NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Research into the genetic roots of inherited forms of Parkinson's disease may have opened the door tounderstanding how all forms of the degenerative disorder arise. An international team of scientists has found that two proteins linked toinherited Parkinson's interact in healthy brains--suggesting that a misstep in this interaction may be involved in all cases of Parkinson's. If future research bears out this concept, it may be possible to design a drug that specifically targets the protein-gone-wrong, study co-author Dr. Michael G. Schlossmacher of Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, said in an interview. He and his colleagues report their findings in the June 28th issue of Sciencexpress, the online edition of the journal Science. Not long ago, researchers believed Parkinson's disease had no genetic component. But in recent years, scientists have identified gene Wolfmutations linked to inherited Parkinson's--rare forms of the disease that typically strike relatively young people. Parkinson's usually affects people older than 50, causing tremors, muscle rigidity, and balance and coordination problems that worsen over time. All cases of Parkinson's are marked by a loss of certain brain cells that help control movement. All patients also have an accumulation of a protein called alpha-synuclein in their brains, according to Schlossmacher. In fact, scientists recently discovered that a mutation in the gene for alpha-synuclein is responsible for one of the inherited forms of the disease. Mutations in another gene, called parkin, have been implicated in causing a second inherited type of Parkinson's. To see what role the parkin and alpha-synuclein proteins might play in common forms of Parkinson's, Schlossmacher and his colleagues examined both healthy brain tissue and tissue from patients with Parkinson's due to a parkin mutation. They found that parkin and alpha-synuclein interact in healthy brains, with parkin helping to clear alpha-synuclein from cells. In brains affected by the inherited formof Parkinson's, however, parkin could not do its job, causing alpha-synuclein to accumulate. Because parkin and alpha-synuclein have a healthy working relationship in normal brains, Schlossmacher and his colleagues hypothesizethat an abnormality in this interaction may be at the root of Parkinson's. Even though most patients do not have an overt mutation in these genes, Schlossmacher explained, they may have a ``subtle abnormal tuning'' in the interaction between the two proteins that allows alpha-synuclein to accumulate in the brain. If alpha-synuclein build-up is the trigger for the loss of nerve cells in Parkinson's, it may be possible to design drugs that bring down levels of alpha-synuclein, Schlossmacher said. However, he stressed, this scenario remains about 10 years away. This study, he said, is a ``first and significant step'' in understanding how Parkinson's disease begins. SOURCE: Sciencexpress 2001;10.1126. ........................................................ A resent report. ........................................................ J Neurosci 2001 May 1;21(9):3126-3134 Fate of Midbrain Dopaminergic Neurons Controlled by the Engrailed Genes. Simon HH, Saueressig H, Wurst W, Goulding MD, O'Leary DD. Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory, The Salk Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, D-80804 Munich, Germany, and GSF-Research Center, Institute for Mammalian Genetics, D-85758 OberschleiBheim, Germany. Deficiencies in neurotransmitter-specific cell groups in the midbrain result in prominent neural disorders, including Parkinson's disease, which is caused by the loss of dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra. We have investigated in mice the role of the engrailed homeodomain transcription factors, En-1 and En-2, in controlling the developmental fate of midbrain dopaminergic neurons. En-1 is highly expressed by essentially all dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and ventral tegmentum, whereas En-2 is highly expressed by a subset of them. These neurons are generated and differentiate their dopaminergic phenotype in En-1/En-2 double null mutants, but disappear soon thereafter. Use of an En-1/tau-LacZ knock-in mouse as an autonomous marker for these neurons indicates that they are lost, rather than that they change their neurotransmitter phenotype. A single allele of En-1 on an En-2 null background is sufficient to produce a wild type-like substantia nigra and ventral tegmentum, whereas in contrast a single allele of En-2 on an En-1 null background results in the survival of only a small proportion of these dopaminergic neurons, a finding that relates to the differential expression of En-1 and En-2. Additional findings indicate that En-1 and En-2 regulate expression of alpha-synuclein, a gene that is genetically linked to Parkinson's disease. These findings show that the engrailed genes are expressed by midbrain dopaminergic neurons from their generation to adulthood but are not required for their specification. However, the engrailed genes control the survival of midbrain dopaminergic neurons in a gene dose-dependent manner. Our findings also suggest a link between engrailed and Parkinson's disease. PMID: 11312297 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] ........................................................ Here is an earlier report. ....................................................... Ann N Y Acad Sci 2000;920:28-32 Genetics of Parkinson's disease. Polymeropoulos MH. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Pharmacogenetics Department, 9 West Watkins, Gaithersburg, MD 20878, USA. [log in to unmask] Several genetic factors have been recently recognized as related to the etiology of Parkinson's disease. Mutations in the genes coding for alpha-synuclein and ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase have been identified in families with autosomal dominant Parkinson's disease. Mutations in the Parkin gene are responsible for autosomal recessive parkinsonism. These first pieces of the molecular puzzle of Parkinson's disease offer novel insights into the pathophysiology of the illness. Publication Types: Review Review, tutorial PMID: 11193165 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] ....................................................... Here is an environmental factor producing similar results. ....................................................... Chronic systemic exposure reproduces features of Parkinson's disease R Betarbet, TB Sherer, G MacKenzie, M Garcia-Osuna, AV Panov, JT Greenamyre Nature Neuroscience 2000;3:1301-1306 Rats chronically exposed to the pesticide rotenone develop most of the cellular pathophysiologic features of Parkinson's disease, according to this report. E-MOVE's initial report on this study from the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Neurology is archived at http://www.wemove.org/emove/article.asp?ID=194. Twenty-five rats were infused for 7 days or more with 2-3 mg/kg/day of rotenone, a highly specific inhibitor of mitochondrial complex I. (The dose was below that needed to inhibit brain mitochondrial respiration rates, ruling out ATP depletion as a cause of pathology.) Histochemical analysis showed: --12 of the 25 rats had brain lesions, versus no vehicle-treated rats. --while complex I inhibition was found throughout the brain, lesions were restricted to nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathways. --"Lesions typically began focally in the central or dorsolateral portion of the anterior striatum...and spread to involve most of the striatum." --the pattern of areas that were most severely affected versus those that were relatively spared matched the pattern seen in PD. --Cytoplasmic inclusions were detected that contained ubiquitin and alpha-synuclein. "Ultrastructural features included a homogenous dense core surrounded by fibrillar elements similar to those seen in Lewy bodies. Some of the inclusions had a more granular appearance, like those described in alpha-synuclein transgenic mice." --Preliminary observations of behavior showed that animals with dopaminergic lesions had hypokinesia, unsteady movement, and hunched posture. Seven animals had severe rigidity, and three had shaking of one or more paws. The authors conclude, "Our results indicate that a systemic partial defect in complex I is enough to reproduce the behavioral, anatomical, neurochemical, and neuropathological features of PD." In a News and Views article accompanying the report, Benoit Giasson and Virginia Lee note, "The question remains as to why rotenone, which inhibits complex I throughout the brain, should preferentially target dopaminergic neurons. The likely answer is that these neurons are particularly sensitive to oxidative stress [known to result from mitochondrial inhibition] because of the permanently elevated level of free radicals generated by dopamine metabolism and auto- oxidation." Copyright 2000 WE MOVE Editor: Richard Robinson ([log in to unmask]) ....................................................... Ray Strand Prairie Sky Design -----------------( on the Edge of the Prairie Abyss )--------------- when the sky is clear the ground is visible 49/dx PD 2 yrs/40? onset ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn