Home - Yahoo! - My Yahoo! - News Alerts - Help
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
Instant Credit with Yahoo! Visa
click to apply now!
Home | Top Stories | Business | Tech | Politics | World |
Local | Entertainment | Sports | Science | Health
Yahoo! News Science Headlines
November 8, 1999
Gene Study On Age Could Shed Light On Alzheimer's/Parkinson's
By Claudia Parsons
MILAN, Italy (Reuters) - The discovery of genetic mutations that seem to
be the clear result of aging could help scientists understand
degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Italian researchers in Milan
said Monday.
The research could help doctors understand why some patients with
PARKINSON'S disease deteriorate much faster than others and why some
Down Syndrome patients go on to develop Alzheimer's.
``The horizons that open up are many, and the task of the coming years
will be to see what this discovery means for pathology,'' said Professor
Guillermo Scarlato, head of clinical neurology at the University of
Milan.
``I think we're on the right road to find something important.''
A study published in the U.S. journal Science last month discovered a
series of mutations linked to aging in mitochondrial DNA, which is used
by the body to produce the energy needed by cells to perform their
various functions.
They found certain mutations in virtually all the older samples and in
none of the younger samples. In a few cases they had samples taken from
the same person over the years and found more mutations as the person
grew older.
What was particularly surprising was that mutations of the same type
appeared in the same place in different volunteers, Professor Giuseppe
Attardi of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena told a
news conference in Milan.
``Mitochondrial DNA codifies a set of proteins which form the essential
machinery for producing the ATP which is the currency utilized by the
cell to produce energy,'' Attardi told Reuters in an interview.
He said ATP was a specific molecule produced when food is oxidized by
the body. It is used by cells as the basic fuel or currency to carry out
many functions.
Though the DNA mutations have not been linked with specific signs of
aging or any illness, Scarlato said the mutations clearly disturbed the
normal functioning of the cells.
``Having less energy predisposes the cell to suffer more severely the
attack by the other agents which determine such illnesses,'' Scarlato
said.
``The principal neurological diseases of a degenerative type, such as
Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, are
illnesses that generally show up at the pre-senile age, from 55 to 65
years,'' Scarlato added.
``What's been seen in this research is that it is exactly in this period
that these mutations of the mitochondrial DNA develop and increase as
the person gets older,'' he said.
Copyright © 1996-1999 Reuters Limited
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
[log in to unmask]
^^^^
\ /
\ | / Today’s Research
\\ | // ...Tomorrow’s Cure
\ | /
\|/
`````
