Maas BiolAB: Cyclosporin Protects Brain Mitochondria at the 33rd Annual Society for Neuroscience Meeting.Business Editors/Biotechnology Writers BIOWIRE2K ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 3, 2003 Maas BiolAB LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control and NeuroPharma AB Director of Research Eskil Elmer M.D., Ph.D., and research scientists Magnus Hansson M.D. and Roland Mansson M.D. exhibited and co-authored 3 poster presentations at the annual Society for Neuroscience For other uses, see SFN (disambiguation). The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is a professional society for basic scientists and physicians around the world whose research is focused on the study of the brain and nervous system. Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. Two of the presentations were the result of research stemming from Maas BiolAB/NeuroPharma's expertise in mitochondrial mitochondrial pertaining to mitochondria. mitochondrial RNAs a unique set of tRNAs, mRNAs, rRNAs, transcribed from mitochondrial DNA by a mitochondrial-specific RNA polymerase, that account for about 4% of the total cell RNA that neuroprotectants. The research revealed that brain mitochondria are specifically and powerfully protected by cyclosporins, through cyclosporins' unique ability to block the formation of the mitochondrial permeability transition Mitochondrial permeability transition, or MPT, is an increase in the permeability of the mitochondrial membranes to molecules of less than 1500 Daltons in molecular weight. pore or "megapore". Blocking this mitochondrial megapore prevents the release of mitochondrial apoptosis factors that activate caspases and turn on neuron suicide genes. Cyclosporins protect damaged neurons from dying, and have been shown to be potent neuroprotectants in models of acute brain attack including stroke, traumatic brain and spinal cord injury Spinal Cord Injury Definition Spinal cord injury is damage to the spinal cord that causes loss of sensation and motor control. Description Approximately 10,000 new spinal cord injuries (SCIs) occur each year in the United States. , and also the chronic neurodegenerative diseases of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's and ALS Als (äls), Ger. Alsen, island, 121 sq mi (313 sq km), Sønderjylland co., S Denmark, in the Lille Bælt, separated from the mainland by the narrow Alensund. . The first presentation "Brain-derived respiring mitochondria exhibit homogeneous, complete and cyclosporin-sensitive permeability transition" demonstrated that cyclosporin protects metabolically active brain mitochondria in particular, information important to demonstrating the mechanism by which cyclosporin protects the brain. The second presentation "Minocycline does not inhibit calcium-induced mitochondrial permeability transition" analyzed minocycline, a putative neuroprotectant drug, and found it not to be effective via the mitochondria "megapore". Minocycline was assessed using the rapid and reliable screening techniques developed by Maas/NeuroPharma scientists to evaluate series of novel potential mitochondrial neuroprotectants. Maas BiolAB LLC is a privately held Swedish-American neuropharmaceutical corporation with world patents for cyclosporin neuroprotection based in Albuquerque, NM, USA. Maas BiolAB is developing cyclosporin drugs for the neurodegenerative diseases of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) (ā'mīətrōf`ik, sklĭrō`sĭs) or motor neuron disease, . NeuroPharma AB is a Maas corporate partner developing NeuroSTAT(TM), a proprietary, non-toxic intravenous cyclosporin product for traumatic brain injury Traumatic brain injury (TBI), traumatic injuries to the brain, also called intracranial injury, or simply head injury, occurs when a sudden trauma causes brain damage. TBI can result from a closed head injury or a penetrating head injury and is one of two subsets of acquired brain , spinal cord injury and stroke. NeuroPharma AB is in the Scandinavian Medicon Valley biotechnology center of Lund, Sweden, with close ties to the Wallenberg Neuroscience Center at Lund University. For more information please visit www.maasbiolab.com . |
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