Early Noninvasive Diagnosis of Neurodegenerative Diseases

Abstract

This paper reviews the contemporary trends in the pathobiochemistry of neurodegenerative disorders with respect to their early predictive diagnosis and possible treatment interventions. If we consider the current epidemiological data related to neurodegenerative disorders, medicine is going to face in the near future latent pandemic situations. The introduction puts an emphasis on the emerging importance of one major cluster of neurodegenerative disorders: diseases of the abnormal protein beta-conformation. The cluster includes such significant diseases as Alzheimer, Pick, Huntington, Parkinson disease, as well as the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (Creuzfeldt-Jakob disease). The pathogenetic mechanisms in the determination of this group of disorders are explored with an emphasis on the impairment of post-synthetic chaperone correction. The central role of a number of such protein products is discussed. In particular the pathobiochemical mechanisms concerning the formation of beta-amyloid, alpha and beta synucleins, scrapie isoform of the prion protein are presented. A new diagnostic principle allowing the early and specific diagnosis of the conformation diseases protein via amplification techniques is presented. These methods compete in sensitivity with the PCR methods and shows promises for effective treatment. In conclusion, beta-pathies are considered a suitable example for the modern concept of cluster and prototype diagnosis in medicine and especially in clinical neurosciences.

α-Synuclein Aggregates with β-Amyloid or Tau in Human Red Blood Cells: Correlation with Antioxidant Capability and Physical Exercise in Human Healthy Subjects

“…Misfolded proteins related to NDs are hypothesized to accumulate in the brain even decades before the appearance of symptoms [75][76][77]; furthermore, recent studies have demonstrated a cell-to-cell transmission of pathologic α-syn and Aβ in anatomically interconnected areas [78,79]. Brain, CSF and blood concentrations of such protein aggregates seem to be in a dynamic equilibrium [80,81], suggesting that increased production in the brain could be associated with increased concentrations in the blood as the result of oligomer transfer across the blood brain barrier [82][83][84].…”

The Entropy of Laughter: Discriminative Power of Laughter’s Entropy in the Diagnosis of Depression

“…A number of new medical methods are being designed for early diagnosis in the most important mental pathologies and neurodegenerative diseases: new biochemical and molecular detectors, EEG, neuroimaging, ocular-macular exploration, pupillometry, exercise and gait analysis, equilibrium platforms, manual exercises, cognitive trials, memory tests, linguistic trials, etc. [27,35,[38][39][40][41]. We think laughter could also be added to that list of biomedical explorations.…”

Electromagnetic radiation and Alzheimer’s disease

“…Although the exact cause of the disease is not fully revealed, most research has in common that people suffering from AD have abnormal amounts of protein (amyloid plaques); intracellular neurofibrillary tangles (tau) in their brain [13][14][15][16][17]. Beta-pathies, conformation of protein molecules to the formation of beta chain polymers, are associated with neorogenerative diseases [18]. Abnormal protein beta chain irreversible conformation, caused by the conversion of the alpha spirals of brain proteins into rigid, insoluble beta chain polymers that clump together, increases neurotoxic deposition [18].…”

“…Beta-pathies, conformation of protein molecules to the formation of beta chain polymers, are associated with neorogenerative diseases [18]. Abnormal protein beta chain irreversible conformation, caused by the conversion of the alpha spirals of brain proteins into rigid, insoluble beta chain polymers that clump together, increases neurotoxic deposition [18]. Beta chain polymers, susceptible to aggregation, contain clumps of beta sheets that form into microscopic amyloid plaques [18].…”

“…Abnormal protein beta chain irreversible conformation, caused by the conversion of the alpha spirals of brain proteins into rigid, insoluble beta chain polymers that clump together, increases neurotoxic deposition [18]. Beta chain polymers, susceptible to aggregation, contain clumps of beta sheets that form into microscopic amyloid plaques [18]. The accumulation of amyloid plaques and fibers blocks neurotransmitters that carry messages to and from the brain, change the metabolism of iron and cause the destruction of nerve cells and eventually destroy them [15][16][17][18][19].…”