Curcumin a compound found in turmeric can help prevent clumping of a protein involved in Parkinson's disease.
Curcumin a compound found in turmeric can help prevent clumping of a protein involved in Parkinson's disease. A team of researchers led by Basir Ahmad, a Michigan State University postdoctoral researcher, demonstrated earlier this year that slow-wriggling alpha-synuclein proteins are the cause of clumping, or aggregation, which is the first step of diseases such as Parkinson's.
Now, a new study led by Ahmad has found that curcumin can help prevent clumping.
"Our research shows that curcumin can rescue proteins from aggregation, the first steps of many debilitating diseases," said Lisa Lapidus, MSU associate professor of physics and astronomy who co-authored study with Ahmad.
"More specifically, curcumin binds strongly to alpha-synuclein and prevents aggregation at body temperatures," she stated.
Lapidus' lab uses lasers to study protein folding. Proteins are chains of amino acids that do most of the work in cells. Scientists understand protein structure, but they don't know how they are built - a process known as folding.
Lapidus' team is shedding light on the process by correlating the speed at which protein folds with its tendency to clump or bind with other proteins.
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Finding a compound that can fix a protein when it first begins to misfold can lead scientists to identify drugs that can treat certain diseases. Doctors won't be prescribing curcumin pills any time soon, though, Lapidus said.
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"But this kind of study showcases the technique of measuring reconfiguration and opens the door for developing drug treatments," she noted.
Results of the study appeared in the current issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Source-ANI