Quantcast
ZME Science
  • CoronavirusNEW
  • News
  • Environment
    • Climate
    • Animals
    • Renewable Energy
    • Eco tips
    • Environmental Issues
    • Green Living
  • Health
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Anatomy
    • Diseases
    • Genetics
    • Mind & Brain
    • Nutrition
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
    • Feature Post
    • Art
    • Great Pics
    • Design
    • Fossil Friday
    • AstroPicture
    • GeoPicture
    • Did you know?
    • Offbeat
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
Home Health & Medicine

Gene therapy in epilepsy could stop seizures

Mihai Andrei by Mihai Andrei
February 15, 2012
in Health & Medicine, Mind & Brain

Researchers successfully tested gene therapy in rats to stimulate the production of a chemical which naturally occurs in the brain and stops seizures from taking place.

About 3.000.000 people are suffering from epilepsy in the US alone, and a major characteristic of this lifelong disease is uncontrollable seizures which prevent sufferers from normally carrying on with their lives. Epilepsy is at the moment treatable, but not curable, so finding novel ways to prevent these seizures would be one of the best ways to help people deal with their illness, and live as normal as possible under the circumstances. Dr. Paul Carney, chief of the division of neurology in the UF College of Medicine explains:

ADVERTISEMENT

“For years people have focused only on treating the disease, not preventing the disease,” Carney said. “The mantra is no seizures, no side effects.”

Another one of the big problems for epilepsy patients is the lower levels of the hormone somatostatin, as do people with Alzheimer’s disease, a hormone that regulates the endocrine system. To test if they could stop seizures by bolstering this hormone, researchers administered a dose that triggers a surge in its production.

“There is some somatostatin in the brain anyway, because it’s a neuropeptide, but there was a dramatic increase after the injection,” Zafar explained.

The immediate results were that after the injection, subjects had weaker and shorter seizures, and perhaps even better, did not suffer any negative side effects. As a matter of fact, there was only one notable side effect, and that was quite positive: subjects learned faster and easier.

Get more science news like this...

Join the ZME newsletter for amazing science news, features, and exclusive scoops. More than 40,000 subscribers can't be wrong.

   

“Being able to restore somatostatin up to normal levels allows the brain to heal itself and that is the idea here,” Carney said. “We’re putting something back in that is normally there and allowing the brain to pick it up as part of its normal machinery. We’re not putting in a drug.”

But still, researchers warn that this is just a first step, and many more must be taken before we can get to business. Scientists are most cautious about inflammation.

ADVERTISEMENT

“What effect a compound is going to have partly depends on where in the seizure circuit that new compound or gene is being placed. You could put the same chemical in two places and get two different results,” said Dr. Edward Bertram III, a professor of neurology at the University of Virginia, who was not involved in the study. “That is going to be the issue as they try to develop this: Where should we be putting this to have the best effect? On the promising side, they put (the gene) in a restricted area and had an effect. That is a great first step.”

Via MedicalXpress

Tags: epilepsysomatostatinsomatotropin
Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Andrei's background is in geophysics, and he's been fascinated by it ever since he was a child. Feeling that there is a gap between scientists and the general audience, he started ZME Science -- and the results are what you see today.

Follow ZME on social media

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Coronavirus
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
  • More

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Coronavirus
  • News
  • Environment
    • Climate
    • Animals
    • Renewable Energy
    • Eco tips
    • Environmental Issues
    • Green Living
  • Health
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Anatomy
    • Diseases
    • Genetics
    • Mind & Brain
    • Nutrition
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
    • Feature Post
    • Art
    • Great Pics
    • Design
    • Fossil Friday
    • AstroPicture
    • GeoPicture
    • Did you know?
    • Offbeat
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.