En.iz.ru. Russian scientists have created a chemical compound that will help patients with Parkinson’s disease regain the ability to move. The developers were able to confirm these properties of the new molecule in experiments on worms and fish, which, after exposure to the neurotoxin and subsequent treatment, moved as actively as healthy individuals. According to doctors, their options in neurodegeneration therapy are currently limited by alleviating symptoms, so doctors need new effective drugs. However, work on a promising product has just begun, and it may take a long time to enter the market.
Restoration of motor functions
Scientists from Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology have synthesized and tested a compound capable of effectively restoring motor activity in Parkinson’s disease. The results of the study are published in the journal Bioorganic Chemistry. The means currently available to doctors to combat this pathology can only slow down its development, so doctors are extremely interested in finding new effective drugs that can be created based on a new molecule.
— We were able to show that the new compound ORA471 is not only low-toxic, but also effectively restores motor function in a nematode model of Parkinson’s disease. The worms that received the toxin moved much slower and had less control over their movements. However, when OR471 was added, their motor parameters — distance traveled and speed — returned to the values of the healthy control group. This indicates the great potential of the molecule for further development of therapy for neurodegenerative diseases,” said Elena Marusich, co—author of the work, senior researcher at the Laboratory of Personalized Chemoradiotherapy at MIPT.
The scientists used the synthetic compound serratin (AN2) as the basis for the substance, an analog of the natural substance urolitin A, which is found in pomegranates and strawberries and is already known for its ability to trigger autophagy, that is, the process of removing chemical toxic debris that kills neurons. On its basis, the researchers synthesized a library of 27 new molecules.
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