Tag: lipids

ELOVL me tender

~ Simon ~ 2 Comments

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Astrocytes are a non-neuronal cell type in the brain that play an important supportive role – nurturing neurons and helping to maintain homeostasis in the central nervous system.

When neurons get damaged or stressed, however, astrocytes can do a Jekyll & Hyde-like transformation and start releasing a toxic substance that helps to kill neurons. This nasty change in the temperament of astrocytes is believed to play a role in neurodegenerative conditions.

Exactly what the released toxic substance is has long been a mystery.

Until now it seems.

But the nature of the presumed substance is something of a surprise to the research community.

In today’s post, we will review a new research report that points towards saturated lipids as the mediators of astrocyte-induced toxicity and we will consider what this could mean for future therapies for neurodegenerative conditions.

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One of my favourite scientists to listen to is Ben Barres.

It is wonderful to go back and watch some of his old videos. Not just because you learn so much from him, but also for the passion that he always had when discussing general science, his research, and other things he believed in.

For example, watch the first 10-15 minutes of this video:

The presentation above was made on January 9th 2017, and despite knowing that he had less than a year to live, you can hear the energy and excitement in his voice for the  material he is presenting. He desperately wanted to share the information and to learn what others might think about it.

He was truly an amazing individual.

Even more so, because almost 4 years after he died, Ben is still publishing spectacular research.

Wait. What?

Continue reading “ELOVL me tender” →

The lipidomics of Parkinson’s

~ Simon ~ 12 Comments

 

Lipids are ‘waxy’ molecules that make up a large proportion of your brain and they play very important roles in normal brain function. For a long time researchers have also been building evidence that lipids may be involved with neurodegenerative conditions as well.

Recently, new research was presented that supports this idea (in the case of Parkinson’s at least), as two research groups published data indicating that certain lipids can influence the toxicity of the Parkinson’s associated protein alpha synuclein.

One of those research groups was a biotech company called Yumanity, and they are developing drugs that target the enzymes involved with the production of the offending lipids.

In today’s post, we will look at what lipids are, what the new research suggests, and discuss some of the issues that will need to be considered in the clinical development of these lipid enzyme inhibitors.

 

Yummy. Source: Healthline

Adherence to the ‘Mediterranean diet‘ has been associated with a reduced risk of developing Parkinson’s (Click here and here to read more about this), but no one has ever really explained why.

There has been the suggestion from some corners that this association may be due to the richness of monounsaturated fats in the foods generally included in this diet.

For example, olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fat.

What are monounsaturated fats?

Mmmm, before I answer that we need to have a broader discussion about “what is fat?“.

Fat is one of the three main macronutrients (carbohydrate and protein being the other two) that the body requires for survival.

Source: Visionpt

Fat serves as a ready source of energy for the body and can also provide insulation against cold temperatures or compression. All fats are derived from combinations of fatty acids (and also glycerol).

What are fatty acids?

A fatty acid is simply a chain of hydrocarbons terminating in a carboxyl group (having a carbonyl and hydroxyl group both linked to a carbon atom). Don’t worry too much about what that means, just understand that fatty acids are basically chains of hydrocarbons that look like this:

A chain of hydrocarbons ending in a carboxyl group (right). Source: Wikipedia

Fatty acids come in two forms:

  • Saturated
  • Unstaturated

In the case of a saturated fat, each carbon molecule in the chain of hydrocarbons is bonded to two other carbons by a single bond. Whereas in the case of a saturated fat, one or more carbon molecule in the chain of hydrocarbons is bonded to another carbon molecule by a double bond. For example:

Saturated fatty acids vs unsaturated fatty acids. Source: Medium

And unsaturated fatty acids can be further divided into:

  1. Monounsaturated fatty acids (or MUFAs) are simply fatty acids that have a single double bond in the fatty acid chain with all of the remainder carbon atoms being single-bonded.
  2. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (or PUFAs) are fatty acids that have more than one double bond.

Source: Medium

OK, but how might monounsaturated fats be involved with Parkinson’s?

That, dear reader, is the focus of numerous studies in the field of lipidomics.

What is lipidomics?

Continue reading “The lipidomics of Parkinson’s” →

When GCase is away, the GSLs will play

~ Simon ~ 7 Comments

 

 

New research published in the last week provides further experimental support for numerous clinical trials currently being conducted, including one by the biotech company Sanofi Genzyme.

Researchers have demonstrated that tiny proteins which usually reside on the outer wall of cells could be playing an important role in the protein clustering (or aggregation) that characterises Parkinson’s. 

In today’s post we will look at this new research and discuss what it could mean for the on going clinical trials for Parkinson’s. 

Source: Stevedalepetworld

The proverb ‘When the cat is away, the mice will play’ has Latin origins.

Dum felis dormit, mus gaudet et exsi litantro (or ‘When the cat falls asleep, the mouse rejoices and leaps from the hole’)

It was also used in the early fourteenth century by the French: Ou chat na rat regne (‘Where there is no cat, the rat is king’).

And then Will Shakespeare used it in Henry the Fifth(1599), Act I, Scene II:

Westmoreland, speaking with King Henry V, Gloucester, Bedford, Exeter and Warwick
“But there’s a saying very old and true,
‘If that you will France win,
Then with Scotland first begin:’
For once the eagle England being in prey,
To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot
Comes sneaking and so sucks her princely eggs,
Playing the mouse in absence of the cat,
To tear and havoc more than she can eat”

The phrase first appears in its modern form in the United States in the literary and political magazine The Port folio in 1802 (2; 323):

Interesting. But what does any of this have to do with Parkinson’s?

Continue reading “When GCase is away, the GSLs will play” →