Scientists think a peptide could stop, reverse damage to nerve cells
Researchers studying promising treatments for neurodegenerative diseases


Date:
February 17, 2022
Source:
University of Illinois Chicago
Summary:
Researchers found a way to inhibit the mitochondrial fission in
nerve cell axons, which can promote normal growth and potentially
stop further damage in neurodegenerative disorders like hereditary
spastic paraplegia and Parkinson's disease.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago found promising results
in their search for a treatment to stop nerve cell degeneration that
happens in some types of disorders, such as hereditary spastic paraplegia
and Parkinson's disease, which can cause significant disability.


==========================================================================
The UIC research, published in the clinical neurology and translational neuroscience journal Brain, was led by Xue-Jun Li, the Michael A. Werckle Professor of biomedical sciences at the College of Medicine Rockford.

The study looked at how the long axons that carry messages between
nerve cells in the brain can break down, which causes increasingly
worse tightening of the leg muscles, leading to imbalance and eventually paralysis, in addition to other symptoms.

Previous research that used animal models to study the causes of the
nerve cell degradation showed it may be a problem with the mitochondria,
the powerhouse that drives the cells, that leads to the axons breaking
down or not growing long enough.

Studying human nerve cells is difficult, but Li's team was able to use
human cells that they transformed into stem cells and then modified to
become nerve cells with the genetic disorder for a particular type of hereditary spastic paraplegia.

"What we found was that the mitochondria in these cells were breaking
apart, what we call mitochondrial fission, and that caused the axons
to be shorter and less effective at carrying messages to the brain," Li
said. "We then looked at whether a particular agent would change the way
the nerve cells function -- and it did. It inhibited the mitochondrial
fission and let the nerve cells grow normally and also stopped further
damage." What this means for the thousands of people affected by this
type of genetic disorder is that this agent, a particular chain of
amino acids called a peptide, could prove to be useful for a drug or
other therapy to stop the nerve cells from becoming damaged or reverse
the course of the damage. The researchers also suggest that using gene
therapy could prevent mitochondrial damage, providing another strategy
to reverse the nerve damage.

The research was supported by the National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health (R21NS109837).

special promotion Explore the latest scientific research on sleep and
dreams in this free online course from New Scientist -- Sign_up_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_Illinois_Chicago. Original written by Carrie Foust. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Zhenyu Chen, Eric Chai, Yongchao Mou, Ricardo H. Roda, Craig
Blackstone,
Xue-Jun Li. Inhibiting mitochondrial fission rescues degeneration
in hereditary spastic paraplegia neurons. Brain, 2022; DOI:
10.1093/brain/ awab488 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220217141254.htm

--- up 10 weeks, 5 days, 7 hours, 13 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)