On Trinity College Week: To help fight Parkinson’s disease, catch it earlier.
William Church, associate professor of chemistry and neuroscience, examines the importance of early detection.
Professor Church grew up in Virginia and received a B.S. in Chemistry at James Madison University. After taking a year off to work in a hospital where he realized that studying the chemical causes of psychoactive drug side effects would be much more interesting than studying medicine, he obtained his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry at Emory University in Atlanta GA. It was here that he was able to form a happy marriage between his two favorite science interests: analytical instrumentation and neuroscience. Having never been west of the Mississippi, he accepted a postdoctoral appointment at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif. working in the Clayton Foundation Peptide Biology Lab for Wiley Vale. He initially came to Trinity in 1988 as a Visiting Professor in the Chemistry Department and was fortunate to be able to return to Trinity in 1995 in a joint appointment in the Chemistry Department and the Neuroscience Program. He serves on the Health Professions Advising Committee, the IACUC, and is the faculty liaison for both the Women’s Soccer team and the Softball team.
Cell Death and Parkinson’s Disease
Humans suffering from Parkinson’s disease cannot be diagnosed until physical symptoms become observable. Unfortunately, by the time a patient presents with the symptoms, over 75% of the brain cells responsible for motor control have been killed. As a result, PD patients have less than 25% of their original dopamine brain cells in the substantia nigra when therapies are begun – this is a recipe for failure.
If the cell death can be detected earlier (before physical symptoms appear) then behavioral and pharmacological therapies may be more effective in slowing the progression of the disease. Our research is focused on detecting biomarkers in the blood which would indicate that this cell death is taking place abnormally, suggesting the presence of Parkinson’s Disease.
The chemicals responsible for killing these brain cells are known as reactive oxygen species, or ROSs. All cells produce ROSs, but in PD they are being produced at a higher rate than normal. Cells also contain other chemicals, anti-oxidants, that act as sponges to ‘soak up’ these ROSs to prevent them from doing any damage. We are using a very sophisticated instrument to measure the chemicals that are produced when a specific anti-oxidant, uric acid, neutralizes these ROSs by forming various uric acid metabolites. If these metabolites are present in the blood at higher levels than normal, it would suggest that ROSs are being produced at a higher rate than normal and the patient may be at risk for developing Parkinsons’ Disease. At this point, behavioral (exercise, diet) and/or pharmacological therapies could be initiated in an attempt to slow the disease progression. We are currently analyzing blood samples from genetically-engineered animal models of Parkinson’s Disease and correlating the amount of these uric acid metabolites with the amount of dopamine cell loss in the brains of these animals.
Comments
4 responses to “William Church, Trinity College – Cell Death and Parkinson’s Disease”
I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease nearly 4 years ago, at age 51. I had a stooped posture, tremors, muscle stiffness, sleeplessness, and slow movement. I was placed on Sinemet for 7 months and then Sifrol and rotigotine were introduced which replaced the Sinemet but I had to stop due to side effects. I was in denial for a while as there is no history of PD in my family. I also used amantadine, and physical therapy to strengthen muscles all failed. I decided to adopt a more natural approach and started on Parkinson’s Herbal formula from Organic Herbal Clinic, the Parkinson’s natural formula immensely helped my condition, i had a total recovery from PD with this natural herbal formula treatment. Organic Herbal Clinic official web site
My sister is 61 years and has been suffering from PD for the past 6years. Lately her condition started hallucinating and I did not know how to handle the situation. She could not sleep and tried to find and catch the imaginary people who she thinks are real, she had tremors for several years and was gradually becoming worse before we found PD herbal supplement from totalcureherbsfoundation.com that was able to get rid of her disease and alleviate all symptoms within the short period of her 15 weeks of usage.
I am a 51 year old female that just found out I have Parkinson’s about a year and half, but I have been having signs of it for years, tremors, depression, body weakness. ECT. I honestly don’t think my doctor was reading the signs because of my gender and age. A few years ago I had my shoulder lock up on me and I was sent to a P.T since x-rays didn’t show any physical damage. My shaking was getting worse and I began falling. Only when my speech became so bad that it brought concern to my dentist was Parkinson’s even considered. He phoned my doctor with his concerns about my shaking and balance problems. By this time I was forgoing shots in the back of my neck for back and neck pain to which once again I was sent to a P.T (although x-rays showed no damage) I was told I had a few spurs which were most likely causing the pain. Here I was feeling like my whole body was falling apart and doctor could not find anything wrong, maybe in was all in my head? My doctor even seemed annoyed with me and things just kept progressing and I just kept it to myself, why bother going through testing and them finding nothing? Well, it was after my second P.T called my doctor about the weakness in my legs and arms, by this time I have developed a gait in my walk and I fell more frequently. Only then did my doctor send me to a specialist and it was found that I had Parkinson’s, and that I have had it for awhile. I think because I was a woman that my signs and symptoms weren’t taken seriously and therefor left untreated for so long,I was taking pramipexole dihydrochloride three times daily, I Was on carbidopa levodopa but only lasted 90 minutes then wore off.I found that none of the current medications worked effective for me.I got tired of using those medication so I decided to apply natural herbs formula that was prescribed to me by my second P.T, i purchase the herbal formula from totalcureherbsfoundation. com, There has been huge progression ever since I start the treatment plan which will last for 15 weeks usage.all the symptoms and sign has begin to disappear .
I sincerely want to thank herbal health remedies foundation for using their product to cure my Parkinson’s disease, since 3 years, I have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and it has been giving me challenges, I was so perplexed cause i have been taking several drugs to be cured but every of my effort was in vain, one morning i was browsing through the internet then i saw several testimonies about people cured from Parkinson’s disease and immediately i contacted them and i got reply how i can purchase the product, i used the herbal remedy for 6 weeks without levodopa and all his symptoms was completely reversed, now i am happy and cured from Parkinson’s disease. I recommended this Parkinson’s herbal remedy for all Parkinson’s Patient on his Email: [email protected] or Visit Website: http://herbalhealthremediesfoundation.com