{"id":1057,"date":"2016-09-20T12:02:54","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T16:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/parkinsonpost.com\/?p=1057"},"modified":"2016-09-20T12:02:54","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T16:02:54","slug":"screening-for-chemicals-that-could-keep-brain-cells-healthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/screening-for-chemicals-that-could-keep-brain-cells-healthy\/","title":{"rendered":"Screening for chemicals that could keep brain cells healthy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Professor

Professor Siegfried Hekimi<\/p><\/div>\n

Mitochondria, the energy-producing building blocks in cells, are essential to keeping those cells healthy and functioning. Researchers know that having defective mitochondria is a trait that several neurodegenerative diseases share, including Parkinson\u2019s and Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

At McGill University, Professor Siegfried Hekimi is honing in on a molecule called ubiquinone, also known as Co-enzyme Q (CoQ). \u00a0Hekimi, a geneticist, knows that mitochondria need ubiquinone to produce energy and to keep cells healthy. He also knows that pathologists have found low levels of ubiquinone in the brains of some people with Parkinson\u2019s disease after they have died.<\/p>\n

Hekimi theorizes that if researchers find a way to boost the amount of ubiquinone in cells, or to make whatever ubiquinone remains in damaged cells work more efficiently, that would help mitochondria to function better.\u00a0 More ubiquinone might even repair damaged cells.<\/p>\n

\u201cMitochondria are the weak point for aging brain cells,\u201d Hekimi says. \u201cWe don\u2019t know at this stage that boosting mitochondrial function will cure the disease, but \u2026 it should certainly help alleviate symptoms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hekimi and his team have developed a tool to screen chemical compounds to observe their effect on ubiquinone. \u00a0Once they administer compounds to cells that are cultured in a dish, the cells turn different colours depending upon whether the chemicals boost ubiquinone and keep the cells alive, or whether they die.<\/p>\n

The more positive results Hekimi and his students get from the compounds they try, the more avenues for drug discovery they have opened.<\/p>\n

For Hekimi, whose former PhD supervisor in England has Parkinson\u2019s disease, the research is now even more personal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot give a prediction of how long it will take, but I\u2019m sure we will find something,\u201d he says with confidence.<\/p>\n

Professor\u00a0 Hekimi\u2019s research is being funded by a one-year, pilot project grant of $45,000 from the Parkinson Canada Research Program.\u00a0 To read about other research projects being funded by the Program, visit archiveparkinson.thedev.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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