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Dear Dad,
   As you know I have suspected for some time that a damaged liver has
been the cause of your disease. So, lets get more specific. While there
are numerous functions of the liver, they are composed of a set of
enzymes called P450. These enzymes perform different functions, but
much attention has been drawn to one in particular called CYP2E1. It
in itself has many functions. One is that it is increased after
ingestion of alcohol. It generates free radicals and noteworthy they
tend to be increasingly expressed in the substantia nigra.
  However, alcohol is not the only substance that will increase the
activities of CYP2E1. I will go over some of these, but we can start
with Acetone, they are organic solvents and can be found in protective
coating, plastics, and rayon industries, well they are everywhere.
  But I would be particularly careful with substances containing these
solvents, that could be absorbed by the skin. Check your labels.
  Now, what else can we do? I believe that there is a possibility
that if this CYP2E1 was inhibited that you may see some significant
relief from the symptoms of the disease. Let's hope so! <smile>
  I did an overview of anything that would decrease, suppress, or
degrade CYP2E1 in Medline and PubMed, just by Title Word, so my
work is far from complete. This is what I found.
  First let's start with the most exciting discovery. There is a drug
called Malotilate. It is generally used to prevent liver cirrhosis,
however, I found this study and the title was "Malotilate, a
hepatoprotectant, suppresses CYP2E1 expression in rats." And they
say that it suppresses CYP2E1 expression, at least by a certain percent.
 And I think that is what we want to happen, total inhibition of this
enzyme might not have some favorable effects, since it does have other
functions.
  Next, there is a component (constituent) in the vegetable Broccoli,
called Sulforaphane. Sulforaphane according to their findings will
inhibit CYP2E1, now I don't know how much broccoli that it would take
to actually begin to effect this enzyme. But I was thinking that maybe
I could find a better or purer source of sulforaphane. That information
I could probably find rather quickly.
  I found an abstract at Life Extension when I attempted to find out
what was diethyldithiocarbamate. They were discussing Panax ginseng and
diethyldithiocarbamate, still no clues of what is
diethyldithiocarbamate. Panax ginseng might have some beneficial
properties, but I haven't read where it inhibits CYP2E1, like they
said diethyldithiocarbamate would be as an inhibitor.
  Lastly, there might be a test. I was reading about an urine analysis
that looked for 6-hydroxychlorzoxazone in the excretions, that might
give some indication of the levels of CYP2E1 activity.
  In summary, this hasn't been easy, and I am not entirely sure that
what needs to be done is inhibit this enzyme or increase it. I will
throw it out to the Parkinson's list, and let them either destroy it
or support it. <smile> There is some good people out there, perhaps
they can help.        Love you, Linda