Shibaura Institute vitamin K analogues turn neural stem cells into neurons 3x more efficiently, cross blood-brain barrier in mice
People with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or Huntington's may someday benefit from new brain-repair compounds. Shibaura Institute of Technology built modified vitamin K molecules that turn neural stem cells into neurons about 3x better than natural vitamin K. Mouse studies only.
Patients with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or Huntington's may someday benefit from a new class of brain-repair compounds. Researchers at Japan's Shibaura Institute of Technology have engineered modified vitamin K molecules by combining the vitamin with components related to vitamin A. The resulting compounds convert neural stem cells into mature neurons roughly three times more efficiently than natural vitamin K, and they successfully cross the blood-brain barrier in animal tests. The team identifies the mGluR1 receptor pathway as the likely mechanism, giving future drug developers a concrete target for therapies aimed at neurodegenerative disease. Important caveats apply. The results come from cell studies and mouse experiments, not from human trials. No vitamin K-derived drug has yet been shown to repair the brains of people with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or Huntington's disease. The next step is further animal-model testing, followed by clinical work in humans. Source: Shibaura Institute of Technology via ScienceDaily and EurekAlert.