Originally published January 16 2006
San Francisco study discovers protein that protects brain from neurodegenerative processes
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Raymond Swanson, MD, chief of neurology and rehabilitation services at San Francisco VA Medical Center, led a study that has identified the protein known as EAAT3, which protects the brain from oxidative stress that occurs in neurodegenerative diseases.
A study conducted at the San Francisco VA Medical Center has identified a protein found in both mice and humans that appears to play a key role in protecting neurons from oxidative stress, a toxic process linked to neurodegenerative illnesses including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
The study, led by Raymond Swanson, MD, chief of neurology and rehabilitation services at SFVAMC, identified the protein - known as EAAC1 in mice and as EAAT3 in humans - as the main mechanism through which the amino acid cysteine is transported into neurons.
It had been thought previously that the main function of the protein was to remove excess glutamate, a neurotransmitter, from brain cells.
Antioxidants such as glutathione provide protection from oxidative stress, which kills cells through the "uncontrolled reaction of lipids in the cells with oxygen--basically, burning them out," says Swanson.
In the first part of the study, Swanson and his co-authors observed a colony of mice deficient in the gene responsible for the production of EAAC1 and compared their behavior with that of a colony of normal, or "wild type," mice.
In contrast, the wild type mice "looked and acted totally normal," according to Swanson.
Then, in postmortem examination, the researchers found that the brains of the EACC1-deficient mice had abnormally enlarged ventricles - openings within the brain that provide a path for cerebrospinal fluid - while the ventricles of the wild type mice were normal.
They found that it took ten times less hydrogen peroxide - a powerful oxidant - to kill slices from the EAAC1-deficient mice than it took to kill slices from the normal mice.
The co-authors of the study, all of whom are with SFVAMC and UCSF, were Koji Aoyama, MD, PhD; Sang Won Suh, MD, PhD; Aaron M. Hamby, BS; Jialing Liu, PhD; Wai Yee Chan, PhD, and Yongmei Chen, MD, PhD.
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