Parkinson's & Toxic Mold- Congress & Funding- More Point Blank Facts

[Guest guest]

My theory continued... Behind the nose is Pineal (RNA, DNA, immune,

melatonin) So what happens when people inhale toxic mold? People get

sick...

So here is Parkinson's Disease:

Jefferson researchers show melatonin's potential benefits in

preventing Parkinson's damage

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 24 OCTOBER 1999 AT 16:00 ET US

Contact: Steve Benowitz

steven.benowitz@...

215-955-5291

Jefferson University

Melatonin could be a key to someday understanding how to treat

Parkinson's disease. Scientists at Jefferson Medical College have

shown in the laboratory and in test animals that melatonin is

effective in preventing a particular type of brain cell damage

similar to that found in Parkinson's.

Many researchers believe that the loss of dopamine nerve cells seen

in Parkinson's disease patients' brains results from oxidative

stress to the cells. Various cellular insults produce oxygen free-

radicals, resulting in cell death. The brain's dopamine neurons are

particularly vulnerable.

Melatonin, a hormone produced by the brain and which is marketed as

an anti-aging agent commercially, is the body's most potent

antioxidant. Two years ago, Lorraine Iacovitti, Ph.D., professor of

neurology at Jefferson University in Philadelphia, and her co-

workers showed in the laboratory that melatonin was effective in

blocking the oxidative ravages of Parkinson's-damaged dopamine-

producing cells.

Dr. Iacovitti and her team tested the theory in rats by giving the

animals a toxin, 6-hydroxydopamine, which specifically damages

dopamine neurons, producing a Parkinsonian-like syndrome. They found

that by injecting melatonin into the rats either 10 minutes prior to

the 6-hydroxy infusion or 30 minutes after, they could block the

Parkinsonian effects. They were able to prevent about half of the

damage, or " rescue the cells, " if melatonin was given two hours

later.

Dr. Iacovitti presents her team's findings October 24 at the annual

meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Miami Beach.

" If you get enough antioxidants to the dopamine nerve cells, you

might be able to prevent the kinds of oxidative stress and cell

death you see in Parkinson's, " she says.

Dr. Iacovitti notes that melatonin " has the correct action to be

developed pharmaceutically, " but cautions that the dosages given to

the test animals were extremely high. " Whether it could be developed

into a drug is another question, " she says. " It's difficult to know

at what levels to keep antioxidants in the body. " A drug company

might be able to isolate an active part of melatonin that could be a

more effective antioxidant at lower doses.

She continues to study other examples of toxin-induced Parkinsonism,

some of which cause damage by other means.

She explains that in oxidative stress, cells don't automatically

die. Rather, they pass through a cascade of cellular events leading

to cell death. She and her team used melatonin to stop the cascade

at its beginning. They would like to explore other checkpoints in

the death cascade to gauge the compound's effectiveness.

http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/news/Oct1999/MelatoninParkinsons.html