Curcumin can prevent and treat Parkinson's disease.
Curcumin is the main compound in Asian spice turmeric. It may be used to cure Parkinson's disease in the future. According to researchers at Michigan State University, this special substance can prevent agglutination of proteins related to the pathology of Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disease of the central nervous system, which is mainly characterized by the formation and insufficient activity of dopamine. In addition, the patient also has the presence of Lewy bodies. Lewy body is a pathological sign of Parkinson's disease, which can be found in degenerative cells in the substantia nigra brain cells.
A research team led by Basir Ahmad, a postdoctoral researcher at Michigan State University, discovered earlier this year that Lewy bodies mainly exist in neurons formed by the accumulation and aggregation of alpha-synuclein.
This new study led by Ahmal shows that curcumin can bind to α-synuclein, thereby preventing its accumulation in neurons. Lisa Lapidus, associate professor of physics at Michigan State University, said, “Our research shows that curcumin can alleviate protein aggregation. More specifically, curcumin can bind α-synuclein very well and prevent α-synuclein from deteriorating. Aggregation"
Protein is made up of amino acids to form a chain. This protein chain can be folded into a specific three-dimensional structure. Although it was previously thought that α-synuclein does not fold itself, we now know that this protein forms a stable folded tetramer to resist aggregation. However, mutations in the gene encoding α-synuclein will cause it to fold at a slower speed, increasing the possibility of its polymerization to form insoluble fibers.
Curcumin binds to α-synuclein, which not only inhibits the aggregation of α-synuclein, but also increases the folding speed of the protein to prevent the aggregation of proteins and other proteins.
This result is of great significance for the development of a new treatment for Parkinson’s disease and other diseases characterized by Yishi body, but there are still many other factors/problems until patients can benefit from these research results Should be studied and considered. First, curcumin cannot pass through the blood-brain barrier and therefore cannot bind to α-synuclein. Lapidus believes that curcumin's actual drug effect may be very limited because it does not enter the brain where protein misfolding is occurring.
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