Society For Neuroscience Selects Boston University Medical Center Researcher's Abstract

Main Category: Neurology / Neuroscience
Also Included In: Parkinson's Disease;  Alzheimer's / Dementia;  Stroke
Article Date: 08 Nov 2007 - 2:00 PDT

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David Farb, PhD, recently had an abstract selected that was highlighted by the Society for Neuroscience (SFN). The abstract details how antioxidants influence dopamine release from striatal synaptosomes. It was presented at SFN's 37th annual meeting November 7th in San Diego, California.

Farb is the professor and chairman of the Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics at Boston University School of Medicine. He is also the director of the Biomolecular Pharmacology Training Program, the interdepartmental program in biomedical neuroscience, and heads the Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology.

Farb's abstract details the relationship between antioxidants and dopamine. Antioxidants can protect the central nervous system from oxidative damage. The level of oxidation and reduction of molecules reflects conditions within the nervous tissue. Increased levels of oxidative damage are believed to be involved in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and stroke.

In the brain, neurons communicate with each other via synaptic connections in which signals are transmitted by the release of chemical neurotransmitters from presynaptic axon terminals. Farb and fellow BUSM researchers examined the release of a specific neurotransmitter, dopamine, from isolated pre-synaptic axon terminals.

Researchers sought to determine whether the presence of antioxidant compounds could influence spontaneous dopamine release from synaptosomes. They concluded that the release of dopamine could be influenced by numerous factors, including input from other neurotransmitters as well as the reducing/oxidizing state of the cell. Inclusion of the water soluble, sulfhydryl containing antioxidant glutathione, or the glutathione precursor NAC lowered spontaneous dopamine release by 85 percent. The antioxidant vitamin E had no effect on dopamine release.

"Not all antioxidants are equivalent," said Farb. "Our results suggest that the ability of NAC or glutathione at therapeutic doses to rapidly and reversibly stabilize the release of dopamine raises the possibility that such antioxidants may have significant potential for the treatment of oxidative damage in neurodegenerative diseases."

Farb chairs the Executive Committee for the Medical Sciences Training Program and is a member of the Bioinformatics Program. He also served as neurosciences consultant for WGBH-Boston PBS affiliate on the NOVA episode, Mirror Neurons and, as a member of the Drug Development Work Group of Mass Insight. He also co-authored the Massachusetts Technology Road Map for Drug Discovery.

Farb has served as a consultant to large and small pharmaceutical companies, intellectual property law and portfolio investment firms. He was a member of the founding Scientific Advisory Boards of CoCensys and DOV Pharmaceuticals and the Scientific Founder of Scion Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Wyeth), which commercialized his patents on high throughput electrophysiology and small molecule modulators of amino acid receptors. Farb currently serves on the SAB of DOV Pharmaceuticals and Helicon Therapeutics (pending). He holds nine issued U.S. patents and one patent issued in Australia.

Farb's current research is directed toward understanding the mechanisms of action of abused substances and steroid hormones and their interactions with excitatory and inhibitory amino acid receptors in the central nervous system. The research focuses on the mechanism of action and discovery of neuromodulators as therapeutic agents and on the structure, function, and cellular dynamics of ion channels and receptors in the brain and spinal cord. Recently, Farb's laboratory demonstrated that pregnanolone hemisuccinate inhibits reinstatement of cocaine seeking behavior and this compound has been acquired by NIDA for preclinical development in its Medications Development Program.

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With 30,000 or more attendees, the SFN's annual meeting is the world's largest and most influential yearly gathering of neuroscientists. In more than 16,000 presentations this year, members will discuss the latest advances in the understanding of the nervous system and its disorders.

Source: Michelle Roberts
Boston University

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