PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Mitochondrial dysfunction present early in Alzheimer's, before memory loss

2012-03-01
(Press-News.org) ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mitochondria -- subunits inside cells that produce energy -- have long been thought to play a role in Alzheimer's disease. Now Mayo Clinic researchers using genetic mouse models have discovered that mitochondria in the brain are dysfunctional early in the disease. The findings appear in the journal PLoS ONE.

The group looked at mitochondria in three mouse models, each using a different gene shown to cause familial, or early-onset, Alzheimer's disease. The specific mitochondria changes corresponded with the mutation type and included altered mitochondrial movement, structure, and energy dynamics. The changes happened in the brain even before the mice showed any symptoms such as memory loss. The group also found that the mitochondrial changes contributed to the later loss of mitochondrial function and the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease.

"One of the most significant findings of this study is our discovery of the impact of mitochondrial dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease," says Eugenia Trushina, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic pharmacologist and senior investigator on the study. "We are asking: Can we connect the degree of mitochondrial dysfunction with the progression of symptoms in Alzheimer's disease?"

Enlisting the expertise of Mayo researcher Petras Dzeja, Ph.D., the team applied a relatively new method called metabolomics, which measures the chemical fingerprints of metabolic pathways in the cell — sugars, lipids, nucleotides, amino acids and fatty acids, for example. It assesses what is happening in the body at a given time and at a fine level of detail, giving scientists insight into the cellular processes that underlie a disease. In this case, the metabolomic profiles showed changes in metabolites related to mitochondrial function and energy metabolism, further confirming that altered mitochondrial energetics is at the root of the disease process.

The researchers hope that the panel of metabolomic biomarkers they discovered can eventually be used for early diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of Alzheimer's progression.

"We expect to validate metabolomic changes in humans with Alzheimer's disease and to use these biomarkers to diagnose the disease before symptoms appear -- which is the ideal time to start treatment," Dr. Trushina says.

The team looked at neurons of three different genetic animal models of Alzheimer's disease. Researchers applied a mitochondria-specific dye and observed their motion along axons, a process called axonal trafficking. They showed that even in embryonic neurons afflicted with Alzheimer's disease, well before the mice show any memory loss, mitochondrial axonal trafficking is inhibited. Using a panel of techniques that included electron and light microscopy, they determined that in the brains of mice with Alzheimer's disease, mitochondria tended to lose their integrity, ultimately leading to the loss of function. Importantly, dysfunctional mitochondria were detected at the synapses of neurons involved in maintaining memory.

"We are not looking at the consequences of Alzheimer's disease, but at very early events and molecular mechanisms that lead to the disease," Dr. Trushina says. The next step is looking at the same mitochondrial biomarkers in humans, she says. As the researchers begin to understand more about the mitochondrial dynamics that are altered in Alzheimer's disease, they hope to move on to designing drugs that can restore the abnormal bioenergetics and mitochondrial dynamics to treat the disease.

INFORMATION:

Other study researchers include Emirhan Nemutlu, Ph.D., Song Zhang, Ph.D., Trace Christensen, Jon Camp, Janny Mesa, Ammar Siddiqui, Ph.D., Thomas Wengenack, and Joseph Poduslo, Ph.D., all of Mayo Clinic; and Yasushi Tamura, Ph.D., and Hiromi Sesaki, Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. This work was supported by grants from the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation and Institute for the Study of Aging, the American Health Assistance Foundation, the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Research Center, and the National Institutes of Health.

About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit http://www.mayoclinic.org/about and www.mayoclinic.org/news.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

MadCap Flare 8.0 Features Major Advancements in Ease-of-Use and Expands Single-Source Publishing to Multiple Mobile, Web and Print Channels

MadCap Flare 8.0 Features Major Advancements in Ease-of-Use and Expands Single-Source Publishing to Multiple Mobile, Web and Print Channels
2012-03-01
MadCap Software, Inc. (http://www.madcapsoftware.com), the leader in multi-channel content authoring and a showcase company for Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Visual Studio and Microsoft XPS, today announced the launch of MadCap Flare 8.0. Flare is the industry's leading technical authoring application for publishing online Help, knowledge bases, policy and procedure manuals, user manuals, and other forms of content. Only MadCap Flare lets authors create a single project and then directly publish it in multiple formats optimized for the Web, mobile devices, desktops, and print ...

Drug improves survival and quality of life for people with myelofibrosis

Drug improves survival and quality of life for people with myelofibrosis
2012-03-01
HOUSTON - A drug that relieves the severe symptoms of a life-threatening bone marrow cancer called myelofibrosis also improves the survival of patients with the disease, according to a phase III clinical trial published in the March 1 edition of New England Journal of Medicine. "The Phase I/II clinical trial showed that ruxolitinib improves quality of life for many patients with myelofibrosis and now this phase III study indicates that the drug extends survival in a patient population that has lacked effective treatments," said study principal investigator Srdan Verstovsek, ...

Drug offers relief for symptoms of myelofibrosis, according to multisite study including Stanford

2012-03-01
STANFORD, Calif. — People with a blood cancer — myelofibrosis — can benefit from a drug called ruxolitinib, according to a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial that included patients and researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine. The results of the multi-site phase-3 trial, which will be published in the March 1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, led the Food and Drug Administration to approve the drug in November as treatment for people with intermediate or advanced cases of the disease. Ruxolitinib is marketed as Jakafi ...

Habitatter.com Announces New Product Lines from Muscle Car Accessories with 10% Off During the Month of March!

Habitatter.com Announces New Product Lines from Muscle Car Accessories with 10% Off During the Month of March!
2012-03-01
Since 2008, Habitatter.com has been offering the highest quality in home decorating accessories. Now, they are adding some additional product lines, including kick plates, wall trim and picture frames. Greg Simerlink, owner of Habitatter.com, said, "I am very excited to introduce these new product lines. We are always striving to expand our offerings, and are looking to become one-stop shopping for all your home decor needs." To celebrate, Habitatter.com is offering 10% off their Muscle Car Accessories collection for the entire month of March. Muscle Car ...

Discovery in Nature elucidates immune cells in skin and supports novel vaccine approach

2012-03-01
BOSTON, MA – February 29, 2012 – TREM Rx, Inc., a biotechnology company with a proprietary technology platform for novel vaccines delivered to the skin, announced today the results of an in vivo preclinical study that shows, for the first time, that powerful cells of the immune system called TREMs (T Resident Effector Memory cells) prevalent in the skin can mediate a protective immune response that is far stronger than memory T cells that circulate in the bloodstream. The study was published in today's online edition of Nature and was led by TREM Rx scientific founder, ...

ESC: In the current context, industry support for continuing medical education remains essential

2012-03-01
Sophia Antipolis, 1 March 2012: In a groundbreaking White Paper published today in the European Heart Journal, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) has set out its perspective on the relationship between the healthcare industry and professional medical associations with regard to the funding and delivery of continuing medical education (CME). Essential in helping to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease across Europe – the ESC's over-arching mission – physicians have both a professional and ethical duty to undertake CME in order to provide the highest level ...

Blue whale behavior affected by man-made noise

2012-03-01
Blue whale vocal behavior is affected by man-made noise, even when that noise does not overlap the frequencies the whales use for communication, according to new research published Feb. 29 in the open access journal PLoS ONE. The whales were less likely to emit calls when mid-frequency sonar was present, but were more likely to do so when ship sounds were nearby, the researchers report. The study was conducted in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California by Mariana Melcon and her colleagues from University of California San Diego. Blue whale vocalizations ...

Snow leopard diet determined by DNA analysis of fecal samples

2012-03-01
Knowledge about animal diet can inform conservation strategy, but this information can be difficult to gather. A new DNA-based method, which analyzes genetic material from feces, could be a useful tool, and researchers have shown its utility to characterize the diet of snow leopards in Mongolia. The full results are reported Feb. 29 in the open access journal PLoS ONE. Analysis of DNA from 81 fecal samples showed that the leopards ate mostly Siberian ibex, followed by domestic goats and wild sheep. Most of the animals eaten were wild (79 %), with a relatively low proportion ...

Triceratops controversy continues

2012-03-01
Millions of years after its extinction, Triceratops is inciting controversy about how to classify the ancient animals. New analysis, published Feb. 29 in the open access journal PLoS ONE, suggests that the specimens in question should be classified into two separate groups, Triceratops and Torosaurus, and are not individuals of different ages from the same genus, as others have proposed. The researchers, led by Nicholas Longrich of Yale University, performed detailed morphological and computational analysis of 35 specimens and found evidence that Triceratops and Torosaurus ...

VLT rediscovers life on Earth By looking at the moon

VLT rediscovers life on Earth By looking at the moon
2012-03-01
"We used a trick called earthshine observation to look at the Earth as if it were an exoplanet," says Michael Sterzik (ESO), lead author of the paper [1]. "The Sun shines on the Earth and this light is reflected back to the surface of the Moon. The lunar surface acts as a giant mirror and reflects the Earth's light back to us — and this is what we have observed with the VLT." The astronomers analyse the faint earthshine light to look for indicators, such as certain combinations of gases in the Earth's atmosphere [2], that are the telltale signs of organic life. This method ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Robotic space rovers keep getting stuck. UW engineers have figured out why

New research shows how immigration status can become a death sentence during public health crisis

University of Toronto Engineering researchers develop safer alternative non-stick coating

Good vibrations: Scientists use imaging technology to visualize heat

More ecological diversity means better nutritional resources in Fiji’s agroforests

New global study shows freshwater is disappearing at alarming rates

Scientists create an artificial cell capable of navigating its environment using chemistry alone

A little salt is good for battery health

Deep-sea fish confirmed as a significant source of ocean carbonate

How to keep kids with eating disorders home after hospital stay? Therapy

Sex differences affect efficacy of opioid overdose treatment

Aligning AI with Human Values and Well-Being

Engineering the next generation of experimental physics

The scuba diving industry is funding marine ecosystem conservation and employing locals

BATMAN brings TCR therapy out of the shadows

Surrogates more likely to be diagnosed with mental illness, study finds

Columbia Engineering researchers turn dairy byproduct into tissue repair gel

Global estimates of lives and life-years saved by COVID-19 vaccination during 2020-2024

Potential trade-offs of proposed cuts to the NIH

New research simulates cancer cell behavior

COVID, over 2.5 million deaths prevented worldwide thanks to vaccines. One life saved for every 5,400 doses administered

Scuba diving generates up to $20 billion annually

Scientists advance efforts to create ‘virtual cell lab’ as testing ground for future research with live cells

How DNA packaging controls the “genome’s guardian”

Simplified models, deeper insights: Coarse-grained models unlock new potential for ionic liquid simulations

Gorillas’ personal circumstances shape their aggression towards groupmates

Which signalling pathways in the cell lead to possible therapies for Parkinson's disease

Identifying landslide threats using hydrological predictors

First graders who use more educational media spend more time reading

Exploring the meaning in life through phenomenology and philosophy

[Press-News.org] Mitochondrial dysfunction present early in Alzheimer's, before memory loss