Monthly Archives: September 2014

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

25-Sep-2014

Contact: Alanna Orpen alanna.orpen@biomedcentral.com 44-0-20-3192-2054 BioMed Central @biomedcentral

A bioactive compound found in turmeric promotes stem cell proliferation and differentiation in the brain, reveals new research published today in the open access journal Stem Cell Research & Therapy. The findings suggest aromatic turmerone could be a future drug candidate for treating neurological disorders, such as stroke and Alzheimer's disease.

The study looked at the effects of aromatic (ar-) turmerone on endogenous neutral stem cells (NSC), which are stem cells found within adult brains. NSC differentiate into neurons, and play an important role in self-repair and recovery of brain function in neurodegenerative diseases. Previous studies of ar-turmerone have shown that the compound can block activation of microglia cells. When activated, these cells cause neuroinflammation, which is associated with different neurological disorders. However, ar-turmerone's impact on the brain's capacity to self-repair was unknown.

Researchers from the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine in Jlich, Germany, studied the effects of ar-turmerone on NSC proliferation and differentiation both in vitro and in vivo. Rat fetal NSC were cultured and grown in six different concentrations of ar-turmerone over a 72 hour period. At certain concentrations, ar-turmerone was shown to increase NSC proliferation by up to 80%, without having any impact on cell death. The cell differentiation process also accelerated in ar-turmerone-treated cells compared to untreated control cells.

To test the effects of ar-turmerone on NSC in vivo, the researchers injected adult rats with ar-turmerone. Using PET imaging and a tracer to detect proliferating cells, they found that the subventricular zone (SVZ) was wider, and the hippocampus expanded, in the brains of rats injected with ar-turmerone than in control animals. The SVZ and hippocampus are the two sites in adult mammalian brains where neurogenesis, the growth of neurons, is known to occur.

Lead author of the study, Adele Rueger, said: "While several substances have been described to promote stem cell proliferation in the brain, fewer drugs additionally promote the differentiation of stem cells into neurons, which constitutes a major goal in regenerative medicine. Our findings on aromatic turmerone take us one step closer to achieving this goal."

Ar-turmerone is the lesser-studied of two major bioactive compounds found in turmeric. The other compound is curcumin, which is well known for its anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties.

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Turmeric compound boosts regeneration of brain stem cells

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Newswise Columbus, OH. Premature babies face a host of medical challenges at birth, but none as deadly and mysterious as a disease called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). The condition creates an inexplicable combination of inflammation and infection that causes parts of the intestine to die. NEC progresses at a ruthless speed, leaving physicians with few options typically supportive care, emergency surgery or antibiotics. Only half of newborns who undergo surgery survive, and they often face serious life-long complications.

In the fifty years since necrotizing enterocolitis was first identified, weve accomplished relatively little to change its devastating course. Even worse, we dont know which babies will get it. One minute, a child can appear healthy, but then be dead from NEC hours later, said Gail Besner, MD, chief of pediatric surgery at Nationwide Childrens Hospital.

That may be about to change thanks to two major breakthroughs driven by Besner and Surgeon-in-Chief at Nationwide Childrens R. Lawrence Moss, MD.

After nearly two decades of work, their separate efforts have yielded both the discovery of a biomarker that can help predict which babies will get the disease, as well as treatments that can restore the intestines natural ability to protect itself against NEC.

These researchers advances offer innovative approaches to necrotizing enterocolitis that may someday make it a more predictable and better managed complication of prematurity, said John Barnard, MD, President of the Nationwide Childrens Research Institute and Pediatric Director of The Ohio State University Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS).

Growth factors, stem cells offer gut protection For Besner, the key has always been to prevent NEC before it can start. In the 1990s, she began looking closely at what was happening at the molecular level to an immature bowel in the throes NEC. Besner made a major discovery, observing that a protein called heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor (HB-EGF) which she initially discovered played a life and death role in protecting premature infants from NEC.

In numerous studies, Besner showed that without HB-EGF, the structures within the intestines that maintain barrier function and integrity, including a massive network of nerves and blood vessels, became easily injured and beyond repair. The addition of HB-EGF had the opposite effect, helping protect intestines from injury in animal models of NEC.

From that molecular level understanding of NEC, Besner developed a bigger picture hypothesis about how the nerve damage within an immature gut impacted the diseases development and progression and where a solution might be found.

Continued here:
Biomarkers, Stem Cells Offer New Ways to Treat Deadly Gut Disease in Premature Babies