Treatment for

Neurodegenerative
Diseases
By: Emilie Baxter and Mikayla DeBarros
What is it?
hereditary/sporadic condition
caused by dysfunction in nervous system
- when neurons in the brain and spinal cord start to
deteriorate
- changes in the cell cause the cells to die

Parkinson's
Substantia Nigra
Alzheimer's
Cerebral Cortex
and
Hippocampus
Huntington's
Striatum

Examples
1). Alzheimer's - degeneration of the brain that
mainly decreases the memory of elderly

2). Huntington's - degeneration of brain cells that
control common humanly functions. Ex: walking,
talking, and logical thinking

More Examples
3). ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) - degeneration of
nerve cells located in the brain and spinal cord that affect the
brains dominance over the muscles.

4). Parkinson's - death of critical nerve cells which leaves
to a decrease of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine sends
messages that serve the function of coordination and human
movement.


Microscopic Images
of the
Diseases
Current Treatment
neurodegenerative diseases = chronic and incurable
a large amount of neurons die and connections between
brain cells are lost
causes people to have severe cognitive symptoms (i.e.
memory loss, speech and writing deficiencies, tremors)
many victims of the disease take an ample amount of
drugs as treatment
Issue
2 to 10 years life expectancy after diagnosed with a
neurodegenerative disease
5 million Americans 65 or older have Alzheimers
250,000 Americans have Huntingtons
1 million Americans have Parkinsons (60,000 are diagnosed
a year)
30,000 Americans have ALS (5,600 are diagnosed a year)
A New Approach
* Find a way to treat neurodegenerative
diseases more effectively.
* Plus: a treatment better for your body

Role of Nuclear Receptors
nuclear receptors = proteins found within cells responsible for sensing
steroid and thyroid hormones and certain other molecules
agonist = substance that initiates a physiological response when
combined with a receptor
nuclear receptor agonists' reactions help discover pathology of the
disease
- still unclear to scientists due to mixed results mouse models
potential therapeutic treatment for past decade
alternative to "classical" drugs
Effect of New Treatment
better understanding of nuclear receptors
leads to advancements in preclinical studies
about neurodegenerative diseases
longer life expectancy once diagnosed with a
neurodegenerative diseases
less drugs

Domestic Animals with
Neurodegenerative Diseases

conditions: lack of motor skills and deterioration of
cognitive skills
Ex. dogs, cats, birds
- birds cant communicate because it is controlled by their
steroid hormones released by their nuclear receptors
References
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24874548
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16427580
http://ec.europa.eu/health/major_chronic_diseases/diseases/brain_neurological/index_en.htm
http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/topics/alzheimers-basics
http://www.hdsa.org/about/our-mission/what-is-hd.html
http://www.alsa.org/about-als/what-is-als.html
http://www.pdf.org/about_pd
http://www.neurodiscovery.harvard.edu/challenge/challenge_2.html
http://reflexions.ulg.ac.be/cms/c_357055/en/from-birdsong-to-neurodegenerative-
diseases?portal=j_55&printView=true