Over the past decades, any attempt at identifying a single, curative treatment for neurodegenerative conditions has failed. For example, over 200 drugs for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have all but come and gone without any significant contribution to better management of this devastating condition. Clearly this is not for the lack of effort or funding, but […]
According to recent evidence, psychobiotics exert beneficial effects on central nervous system-related diseases, such as mental disorders. Lactobacillus plantarum PS128 (PS128), a novel psychobiotic strain, improves motor function, depression, and anxiety behaviors. However, the psychobiotic effects and mechanisms of PS128 in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) remain to be explored. Objectives The goal of the current study was to
The presented data of preclinical studies showed that harmine hydrochloride has antidepressant,antihypoxic, and antiparkinsonian effects, eliminates catalepsy caused by haloperidol in rats, and reducesoligokinesia and rigidity in the parkinsonian syndrome test. In terms of antiparkinsonian effect, harmine hydrochlorideis not inferior to amitriptyline. The study of the relative bioavailability of harmine hydrochloride in experimentalanimals showed that
Alkaloids of Peganum harmala L. and their Pharmacological Activity Read More »
After decades of biomedical research on ayahuasca’s molecular compounds and theirphysiological effects, recent clinical trials show evidence of therapeutic potential for depression.However, indigenous peoples have been using ayahuasca therapeutically for a very longtime, and thus we question the epistemic authority attributed to scientific studies, proposing thatepistemic injustices were committed with practical, cultural, social and legal
Instead of a conventional ‘one-drug-one-target approach’, this article presents a novel multi-target approach with a concept of trapping simultaneously as many detrimental factors as possible involved in the progression of Parkinson’s disease. These factors include reactive carbonyl species, reactive oxygen species, Fe3+/Cu2+ and ortho-quinones (o-quinone), in particular. Different from the known multi-target strategies for Parkinson’s disease,
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD), enactment of dreams during REM sleep, isan early clinical symptom of alpha-synucleinopathies. RBD also defines more severe forms of alphasynucleinopathies. The genetic background of RBD and its underlying mechanisms are not wellunderstood. Here, we performed the first genome-wide association study of RBD, identifying five RBD riskloci. Expression
Through the tragic misadventures described in Addicts,the parkinsonism-inducing neurotoxin 1-methyl-4-phenyl1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) was discovered. It hasbeen one of the most important tools in generating animalmodels to study Parkinson’s disease. Studies of how it killsdopaminergic neurons have revealed their Achilles’ heel,mitochondria, the power plants of cells. Mitochondriaprovide cells with adenosine triphosphate, the chemicalenergy molecule that the cells’
Neurotoxins that cause parkinsonism and the search for analogues in the environment Read More »
Emerging evidence is revealing that alterations in gut microbiota are associated with colorectal cancer (CRC). However, very little is currently known about whether and how gut microbiota alterations are causally associated with CRC development. Here we show that 12 faecal bacterial taxa are enriched in CRC patients in two independent cohort studies. Among them, 2 Porphyromonas species