09.02.2012 16:15:00
An endocrine hormone used in clinical trials as an anti-obesity and anti-diabetes drug causes significant and rapid bone loss in mice, raising concerns about its safe use, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have shown.
The hormone, fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), promotes bone loss by enhancing the activity of a protein that stimulates fat cells but inhibits bone cells, researchers report in a study available online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"This hormone is a very potent regulator of bone mass," said Dr. Yihong Wan, assistant professor of pharmacology and senior author of the study. "When we oversupply FGF21 in mice, it results in substantial bone loss."
08.02.2012 5:47:12
21-JAN-2012
New Delhi : Ashwagandha, a plant used for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine, cleaned out abnormal protein deposits in the brain and reversed damage and behavioural changes observed in Alzheimer’s disease when tested on mice, a team of Indian scientists announced today.
The scientists have shown through experiments on mice that extracts of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) can reverse within 30 days the abnormal accumulation of a protein, called beta-amyloid plaque, in the brain that is linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
The researchers at the National Brain Research Centre (NBRC) at Manesar in Haryana fed genetically-engineered mice, which had symptoms similar to those of Alzheimer’s disease, a daily oral dose of a cocktail of chemicals called withanosides and withanolides, extracted from Ashwagandha.
The extracts appeared to boost the synthesis of a special protein in the liver that acts as a chaperone and helps remove amyloid plaque from the brain. The scientists said a component of this protein slips into the bloodstream and draws the accumulated amyloid plaque out of the brain into the bloodstream for eventual disposal and excretion from the body. The findings appear today in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“It’s like vacuum cleaning the brain to get rid of unwanted amyloid plaque,” said Vijayalakshmi Ravindranath, a senior neuroscientist at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, who initiated the study eight years ago while she was director of the NBRC.
In their experiments, the scientists observed the elimination or reduction of amyloid plaque within the brain and an improvement or a complete reversal of behavioural deficiencies in the model mice, depending on the age of the animals.
Suvarna Alladi, a neurologist at the Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad, who is not associated with the study, said all current therapy against Alzheimer’s disease directly target the brain. “This is a novel strategy. They’re targeting the liver to remove amyloid plaque from the brain. But this is also essentially an anti-amyloid therapy which currently appears to be a promising way ahead against Alzheimer’s disease.”
While the use of Ashwagandha has been advocated for centuries in traditional medicine, the NBRC study is the first to show that its extracts reverse Alzheimer’s disease.
“The results appeared so stunning that we requested an independent laboratory in Canada to validate them,” Ravindranath told The Telegraph. Neurologist Edith Hamel at McGill University in Montreal and fellow researcher Jessica Mills repeated the experiments with a different model mouse and obtained similar results.
The NBRC team, including Neha Sehgal, Alok Gupta, Rupanagudi Khader Valli, and Shanker Datt Joshi collaborated with Delhi University plant chemistry experts Subhash Jain and Pankaj Khanna who extracted the withanosides and withanolides from the plant.
The researchers caution that the Ashwagandha extract is not ready for human trials yet. Ravindranath points out that the dose given to mice was very high — about one gram per kilogram bodyweight of the animal.
“The evidence with mice looks good. If this holds up in future studies, we should go into human trials,” said Manjari Tripathi, a neurologist at AIIMS, New Delhi.
“This is a desperate hunt for a devastating disease that robs its victims of memory and thinking capacity. There may also be other herbs waiting to be assessed through rigorous scientific research.”
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120201/jsp/frontpage/story_15077580.jsp
07.02.2012 22:02:30
DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 7, 2012 - Cannabis Science, Inc. (OTCBB:CBIS) a pioneering U.S. biotech company developing pharmaceutical cannabis (marijuana) products, is pleased to present the newest set of photographs showing evidence that the...
08.02.2012 5:38:04
8-Feb-2012
HYDERABAD : Hyderabad-based biopharmaceutical company Suven Life Sciences Limited (Suven) stated that it has secured three patents, two from the US and one from Mexico, for its new chemical entities (NCEs) for the treatment of disorders associated with neuro-degenerative diseases. These patents are valid through 2025 and 2028.
The granted claims of the patents include the class of selective 5-HT compounds discovered by Suven and are being developed as therapeutic agents that are useful in the treatment of cognitive impairment associated with disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, attention deficient hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Huntington’s disease, Parkinson and Schizophrenia.
With the new patents, Suven has a total of 11 patents from the US and 12 patents from Mexico.
“We are very pleased by the grant of these patents to Suven for our pipeline of molecules in the central nervous system (CNS) arena that are being developed for cognitive disorders with high unmet medical need and an estimated $30 billion market potential globally,” chief executive officer of the company, Venkat Jasti, stated in a press release on Tuesday.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/printpage.php?autono=463976&tp=
09.02.2012 5:18:50
NIPER, Hyderabad is an autonomous body which has been established under the aegis of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, in the Government of India to provide leadership in Pharmaceutical Sciences and other related areas. The Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad as Mentor Institute is conducting Walk in Interview for the following positions for NIPER Hyderabad :
http://www.biotecnika.org/content/february-2012/project-assistant-post-niper-hyderabad-recruitment-walk-interview#comments
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