LEVÄÄ KESKUSHERMOSTOTAUTIIN

[Bb]

Lähettäjä: Soijuv Lähetetty: 7.1.2006 17:25

Sveitsiläisten tutkijoiden mukaan tietyt lammikoissa kasvavat levät kykenevät neutraloimaan koliiniesteraasientsyymin toiminnan. Kyseinen aine on osallisena Alzheimerin taudin synnyssä:


Pond scum could help cure brain disease, say Swiss scientists

Thu Jan 5, 11:42 AM ET

Blue-green algae that thrives in ponds and sewage reservoirs has potential for treating the debilitating Alzheimer's brain disease.

Laboratory tests showed a substance called nostocarboline, derived from Nostoc algae skimmed from sewage ponds in the United States, neutralised the cholinesterase enzyme that is partly responsible for Alzheimer's.

The discovery by researchers from the University of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology was published in the United States-based Journal of Natural Products and in Swiss academic Internet magazines ETHLife and Unipublic Thursday.

However, years of further testing and research would be required before nostocarboline could be used in treatment, the scientists said.

The substance also has potential as a pesticide, as the algae exploits it to protect itself from insects, crabs and other algaes, and for countering algal blooms in coastal waters.

More than 24 million people worldwide suffer from Alzheimer's or similar conditions and the number is set to double every 20 years, said a study published last month in British medical journal The Lancet.