Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Molecular Biology -Blog 1- Inhibition of Neurodegeneration

Imagine your brain covered with plaques made of proteins and your neurons destroyed by tangles of proteins. This is not some apocalyptic disease. This is Alzheimer's disease! In a few patients, Alzheimer's is genetic and triggered by genes called: Apo e2, e3 and e4 which transcribe the proteins that entangle the brain. But in 95 % of patients, Alzheimer's is a sporadic disease meaning that it is self occurring and random where genetics have no role to play. In other words, while Apo genes are responsible for this increased likelihood to get the disease, we can't fully blame it on our genetic code. 

So, there are other factors that increase the disease occurrence. What about diet? Our body is a dynamic system that is in constant need for nutrient. Paracelsus, a pioneer in toxicology, once stated "Anything could be a poison depending on its dose and its nature".An extensive research was conducted in Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This study showed that reduced caloric intake activates SIRT 1: an enzyme that protects against age associated brain impairments. According to Tsai "We not only observed a delay in the onset of neurodegeneration in the calorie restricted mice, but the animals were spared the learning and memory deficits of mice that did not consume reduced-calorie diet." 

It is important to realize that balanced diet play a crucial role in maintaining a normal body functioning. Moreover, doctors realized that coconut oil has a very positive role for patients with Alzheimer's. Some were miraculously cured using this substance, but these are only observations and no study was made to assess how can an oil be able to slow down the progression of the formation of the plaques. 

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