Calcium is Key to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's Treatments

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New clues surrounding the cause of night blindness could have larger implications for other neurodegenerative diseases like schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's.

Congenital stationary night blindness is an inherited condition that damages a person's ability to see in the dark. The condition is caused by a mutation in a protein that transports calcium into and out of cells. New discoveries about the mutation could impact understanding of night blindness as well as other diseases that involve calcium dysfunction.

"Calcium is so crucial for normal functions like heart contraction, insulin control and brain function," David Yue, M.D., Ph.D., professor of biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, was quoted as saying. "If calcium levels are off at any time, disease can ensue."

By watching calcium channels in action in living cells, Dr. Yue and his team have found a new target for drug therapy that could be utilized treat night blindness and other neurodegenerative diseases.

The researchers found the mutant protein linked to night blindness is missing its tail end, and that the missing "tail" controls how much calcium enters cells. This purpose "may bear on many neurodegenerative diseases where calcium is dyregulated," Dr. Yue said.

Source: Nature, March 30, 2010

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