For Lane(1)

jfkoc

Info re this was published in the U of A  alumni publication. The story is specifically about Robin Bolt. 

Your take???

Judith

Lane Simonian

Thanks, Judith.  I see there is a Dr. Robin Polt at the University of Arizona working on dementia and other neurodegenerative disease.  His main focus seems to be on glcyoproteins.  Some of these glycoproteins such as mannose can act as strong antioxidants.  I had not seen this fascinating article on mannose until just now.

https://ummemoryprogram.org/dietary-supplement-like-a-touch-of-magic-for-alzheimers-patients/

If possible maybe you could give me a few snippets from the University of Arizona alumni magazine, and I will try to piece more of this together.

jfkoc

maybe send me an address and I will send to you?

Lane Simonian

I found it. Should have looked harder the first time (typing in Robin Polt and University of Arizona alumni magazine did not work but going to the alumni magazine website and searching for Robin Polt did). Thank you for bringing it to my attention.  

https://alumni.arizona.edu/arizona-magazine/winter-2023/following-natures-rules

"Polt and his UArizona collaborators say the key to their innovation lies in a specific type of peptide called a glycopeptide, which is made up of amino acids that have carbohydrate groups attached to them. The researchers focused on taking naturally occurring chemical messengers that carry signals between neurons — called endogenous neurotransmitters — and converting them into drugs by attaching carbohydrates to them to produce glycopeptides. In doing so, they can change how these molecules interact with and pass through the blood-brain barrier."

This is an ingenious method, but perhaps not necessary.  Aromatherapy, for example, delivers beneficial compounds to the brain without basically having to cross the blood-brain barrier.  

From a larger point of view, there are a variety of compounds that can cross the blood-brain barrier that can act as potent antioxidants in Alzheimer's disease which is critical because Alzheimer's disease is not primarily an amyloid disease, or a tau disease, or a neuroinflammation disease, it is primarily an oxidative stress disease.  These compounds can help partially restore neurotransmitter levels in the brain and in doing so improve certain forms of cognition (sense of place and time, object recognition, social recognition, more alertness and awareness, reduced delusions, remembering names, for instance), as well as better sleep and more balanced mood. 

These are just a few examples:

Mannose (glycoprotein):

“When my grandmother started the treatment, I was very skeptical,” said her grandson, Lisandro Sierra, a doctor in eastern Cuba who enrolled her in the study. “But then I saw her move from darkness to the light. She became more aware of her surroundings, asked for water when she was thirsty, and went to the bathroom by herself. It was like a touch of magic.” Torres’ dramatic improvement lasted until she passed away in 2012 at the age of 84...

“A female participant in her 90s was confined to a wheelchair and could not speak,” said Lewis. “Within six months of taking the dietary supplement, she was walking and talking again, and called one of our clinical coordinators by name, much to his surprise.”

“An architect who had Alzheimer’s for eight years, was barely able to speak, and required total care, took the APMC supplement and within a few months remembered his son’s name and carried on a conversation with his wife. She called me in tears to say that it felt like she got her husband back,” Lewis said.

Cyclodextrin (polysaccharide)

After 18 months, the patient showed neurologic and cognitive stability: this is a positive outcome given that persons with Alzheimer’s Disease dementia are generally expected to decline during an 18-month timeframe. Speech fluency also improved as documented by the treating physician’s report of a decrease in latency to word-finding. In addition, mood and behavioral features of the disease improved, such as less agitation, as noted by the patient, the patient’s family and the treating physician.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200617005193/en/Cyclo-Therapeutics-Reports-on-Eighteen-Month-Expanded-Access-Program-in-Single-Alzheimer%E2%80%99s-Patient

Panax ginseng/Korean Red Ginseng (polysaccharides, saponins, and polyphenols)

At 24 wk, there had been a significant improvement in KRG-treated groups. In the long-term evaluation of the efficacy of KRG after 24 wk, the improved MMSE score remained without significant decline at the 48th and 96th wk. ADAS-cog showed similar findings. Maximum improvement was found around week 24. In conclusion, the effect of KRG on cognitive functions was sustained for 2 yr follow-up, indicating feasible efficacies of long-term follow-up for Alzheimer’s disease.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3659550/

Aromatherapy (polyphenols):

Mary Knapp, 90, a resident at Beverly Health Care, is one of the dozens of participants in Loy’s study. Each day she wears on her sweater a heart-shaped patch scented with frankincense and grapefruit. Knapp described the scent as “mellow.”

Knapp’s daughter, Mary Langston, of Greenville, said she has noticed a marked change in the past few weeks in her mother’s attention span and ability to better remember relatives in photographs and scrapbooks.

“It’s been nice. It makes it so much easier to sit down and talk to her. As a child, you can’t imagine your parent’s not being able to remember things. But lately, it’s like she has been reborn,” Langston said. “She doesn’t get upset that she can’t remember things. Her attention span certainly has improved and she enjoys being around people more. Noises aren’t as disturbing for her.”

https://news.ecu.edu/2005/10/18/ecu-therapist-studies-links-between-scent-and-memory/

Results: All patients showed significant improvement in personal orientation related to cognitive function on both the GBSS-J and TDAS after therapy. In particular, patients with AD showed significant improvement in total TDAS scores. Result of routine laboratory tests showed no significant changes, suggesting that there were no side-effects associated with the use of aromatherapy. Results from Zarit's score showed no significant changes, suggesting that caregivers had no effect on the improved patient scores seen in the other tests.

Conclusions: In conclusion, we found aromatherapy an efficacious non-pharmacological therapy for dementia. Aromatherapy may have some potential for improving cognitive function, especially in AD patients.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1479-8301.2009.00299.x

https://assets.researchsquare.com/files/rs-1392290/v1/f79b84f0-ba44-49fd-ace1-57fbb9eac13d.pdf?c=1652156064

jfkoc

So glad you could find it and that you think his work has merit. Hopefully his  work will help those with dementia.

At this point my selfish interest is how my idiopathic neuropathy might benefit. It is good to know that nothing must cross the "blood barrier" is not true and that there are useful things that can cross which can bring relief.

Thanks Lane

Lane Simonian

You are welcome, Judith.  It gives me some comfort knowing this as well.

Lane Simonian

I vaguely remember that peroxynitrite is not only involved in memory loss but in neuropathy as well (although the following is for diabetic neuropathy in mice).

Peroxynitrite and Protein Nitration in the Pathogenesis of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy

The findings indicate that both structural and functional changes of chronic diabetic peripheral neuropathy can be reversed, and provide rationale for the development of a new generation of antioxidants and peroxynitrite decomposition catalysts, for treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4177961/

Potentially then the peroxynitrite scavenging aspects ginseng and essential oils via massage aromatherapy (an essential oil mixed in a carrier oil applied to the skin) can help in neuropathy as well.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1744388121001298 (again for diabetic neuropathy but may help with ideopathic neuropathy as well).

Ginseng is not only effective in the treatment of neuropathic and inflammatory pain, but also in other types of chronic pain.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2022.821940/full#:~:text=Ginseng%20is%20not%20only%20effective,chronic%20joint%20inflammation%20and%20pain.

jfkoc

Thanks again....