Fw: Health News for Dementia/Alzheimer's

[Guest guest]

" Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's are partly

attributable to brain inflammation. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet now

demonstrate in a paper published in Nature that a well-known family of enzymes

can prevent the inflammation and thus constitute a potential target for drugs.

" Research suggests that microglial cells - the nerve system's primary immune

cells - play a critical part in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's

and Parkinson's. The over-activation of these cells in the brain can cause

inflammation, resulting in neuronal death.

" Scientists at Karolinska Institutet and Seville University, working in

collaboration with colleagues at Lund University, have now found a way to

prevent the activation of the microglia and consequently the inflammation they

cause. The key is the blocking of enzymes called caspases, which the team has

shown control microglial activation.

" The caspases are a group of enzymes known for causing cell death, " says

Associate Professor Bertrand ph, who headed the study. " That they also serve

as signal molecules that govern that activity of other cells was an unexpected

discovery that gives them an entirely new physiological role. "

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/218906.php

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VITAMIN D COMING TO LIGHT

'A study from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet has shown

that the body's ability to break down medicines may be closely related to

exposure to sunlight, and thus may vary with the seasons. The findings offer a

completely new model to explain individual differences in the effects of drugs,

and how the surroundings can influence the body's ability to deal with toxins.

" The study will be published in the scientific journal Drug Metabolism &

Disposition and is based on nearly 70,000 analyses from patients who have

undergone regular monitoring of the levels of drugs in their blood. The drugs

taken by these patients are used to suppress the immune system in association

with organ transplants. Samples taken during the winter months were compared

with those taken late in the summer.

" A more detailed analysis showed that the concentrations of drugs such as

tacrolimus and sirolimus, which are used to prevent rejection following

transplantation, vary throughout the year in a manner that closely reflects

changes in the level of vitamin D in the body. The ability of the body to form

vitamin D depends on sunlight, and the highest levels in the patients taking

part in the study were reached during that part of the year when the levels of

the drugs were lowest.

" The connection between sunlight, vitamin D and variations in drug concentration

is believed to arise from the activation by vitamin D of the detoxification

system of the liver by increasing the amount of an enzyme known as CYP3A4. This

enzyme, in turn, is responsible for the breakdown of tacrolimus and sirolimus.

" If the breakdown capacity increases, then higher doses of a drug are normally

required in order to achieve the same effect. More research will be needed to

confirm the results, but CYP3A4 is considered to be the most important enzyme in

drug turnover in the body, and the results may have significance for many

drugs " , says Jonatan Lindh at the Department of Laboratory Medicine and one of

the scientists who carried out the study.

'The effects of vitamin D on CYP3A4 have previously been demonstrated in

experiments in cell cultures. But the study now to be published shows for the

first time that the mechanism can play an important role in the pharmacological

treatment of patients, and it shows for the first time that variation in

exposure to sunlight may affect the sensitivity of individuals to drugs. "

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/218674.php

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FYI,

Lottie Duthu