Sick Plant Suffering For Parkinson Patients

Main Category: Parkinson's Disease
Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 25 Apr 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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The research plant Arabidopsis thaliana is currently a patient in a laboratory at the University of Stavanger, Norway. Researchers hope it can give the answer to how Parkinson patients can achieve a better quality of life.

It is the first time plants are being used to uncover the reason why Parkinson patients experience a gradual loss of nerve cells. This is being done in a cooperation between the clinical unit at Stavanger University Hospital and the molecular biological experts at the University of Stavanger in Norway.

"The collaboration between Stavanger University Hospital and the University of Stavanger in Norway represents a unique way of analysing and understanding the mechanisms behind neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's. We can transfer these findings from plants to humans, because plants have many of the proteins that humans have," says Professor Simon G. Møller, head of Centre for Organelle Research (CORE) at the University, and Professor Jan Petter Larsen who heads the National Competency Centre for Movement Disorders at Stavanger University Hospital.

Stavanger University Hospital has been involved in Parkinson's disease (Parkinsonism) research since 1992 and is the leading establishment in this field of research in Norway. The hospital is currently heading a major clinical research project involving 200 patients, who are to be followed up over the next 12 years.

In principle the possibility of linking plant research with clinical research is somewhat strange. But a little more than a year ago experts from the clinical and bio-molecular research area began a dialogue, and a seed was sown, so to speak. Therefore a laboratory at the University of Stavanger has cultivated genetically-modified plants, which have Parkinson's disease at the molecular level.

The research plant is mouse-ear cress, Arabidopsis thaliana, which is one of the most important model plants for plant genome researchers.

Parkinson's affects approx. 1 in 1000 and is one of the most frequent neurodegenerative diseases. At present the reasons why a certain types of brain cells degenerate is not fully understood. The researchers at the University of Stavanger and Stavanger University Hospital hope that the plant project can provide insight into the mechanisms causing the disease. One main aim is to identify biological factors that influence the development of the disease. The key is to gain knowledge as to why nerve cells die. It is here that the researchers in molecular biology in Stavanger can contribute.

Researchers are concentrating on the DJ-1 protein, which is key in understanding the disease. Researchers have seen a clear tendency that defective DJ-1 proteins lead to increased cell death, and that this protein, together with other proteins, leads to a better handling of cell stress.

"Cell death is the core concerning Parkinson's. We know that something is wrong with the mitochondrial organelle, which produces energy, in this group of patients. The proteins clot and are deposited in the nerve cells, which then die," says Jan Petter Larsen.

"If DJ-1 doesn't function, cell death occurs in the nerve cells, and it is important to find the mechanism for this, so that intervention can be made possible," explains Simon G. Moller. "It is not only a defective DJ-1 protein which can cause cell death. There are close to 10 proteins or genes which we know cause Parkinson's disease, but DJ-1 is unquestionably one of them," says Jan Petter Larsen.

"What is important to remember is that when we know more about the molecular mechanisms, it will be easier to find treatment. But this must be done in combination with clinical data," Simon G. Møller stresses. He adds that the collaboration with Stavanger University Hospital is essential for the project.

"What we can achieve by new knowledge about why nerve cells die is to arrive at medicines and manipulation of the cells which can give the patients a better quality of life and which can alter the disease and prolong their life," says the researchers.

Further research will be expanded to comprise zebra fish, which have many of the same genes as us humans. But this type of research is costly and researchers must spend a lot of time in raising funds for the research. This is an important regional research project, according to the researchers, both of whom have a desire of establishing a dedicated foundation, in the future, for this type of research.

This is a cooperation between the National Centre for Movement Disorders at the Hospital, which was founded in 2003 by the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, and whose responsibilities include the disease groups Parkinson, dystonia and tremors, and CORE (Centre for Organelle Research) at the University of Stavanger, whose goal is to understand the molecular and cellular functions of organelles in the different organisms.

Source: Stavanger University