WisBusiness: Venomous Jellyfish To The Rescue
Posted: 3:57 pm CDT April 12, 2007
By Jigyasa Jyotika
WisBusiness.comIn collaboration with a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee lab, a Wisconsin biotech company is developing a compound from a protein found in jellyfish to act as a neuro-protective agent which may be effective in treating neurodegenerative diseases.The neuro-protectant called aequorin could fight a whole series of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and other rare neuro-degenerative diseases."Testing of aequorin has yielded some very promising results," said Mark Underwood, president of Quincy Bioscience.Assistant professor and collaborator James Moyer, of UW-Milwaukee, showed that when he subjected rat brain cells to "stroke conditions" in the lab, up to 28 to 45 percent of the cells treated with aequorin survived without any residual toxic side effects.Moyer's team is now testing the protein in healthy young animals to assess whether it helps them learn and retain their memory as they age.Underwood became interested in aequorin during his undergraduate years majoring in psychology at UW-Milwaukee after reading an article that linked the stings of jellyfish with the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, a disease that affected his mother.What does a protein from a venomous jellyfish have to do with neuro-degenerative diseases? The answer has to do with calcium and calcium imbalance in the body.Calcium is required not only for bone growth but also for communication of neurons in the brain; learning and memory are not possible without it. But during aging and in neuro-degenerative diseases excessive inter-cellular calcium builds up and excites brain cells causing them to short circuit and eventually die.To continue reading, visit WisBusiness.com.
WisBusiness.comIn collaboration with a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee lab, a Wisconsin biotech company is developing a compound from a protein found in jellyfish to act as a neuro-protective agent which may be effective in treating neurodegenerative diseases.The neuro-protectant called aequorin could fight a whole series of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and other rare neuro-degenerative diseases."Testing of aequorin has yielded some very promising results," said Mark Underwood, president of Quincy Bioscience.Assistant professor and collaborator James Moyer, of UW-Milwaukee, showed that when he subjected rat brain cells to "stroke conditions" in the lab, up to 28 to 45 percent of the cells treated with aequorin survived without any residual toxic side effects.Moyer's team is now testing the protein in healthy young animals to assess whether it helps them learn and retain their memory as they age.Underwood became interested in aequorin during his undergraduate years majoring in psychology at UW-Milwaukee after reading an article that linked the stings of jellyfish with the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, a disease that affected his mother.What does a protein from a venomous jellyfish have to do with neuro-degenerative diseases? The answer has to do with calcium and calcium imbalance in the body.Calcium is required not only for bone growth but also for communication of neurons in the brain; learning and memory are not possible without it. But during aging and in neuro-degenerative diseases excessive inter-cellular calcium builds up and excites brain cells causing them to short circuit and eventually die.To continue reading, visit WisBusiness.com.
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