Carnosine Therapy in Alzheimer's Disease
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The main reason for brain cell destruction is probably the inhibition of the proteasome, a protein which removes damaged and denaturated proteins from the brain cells. The causes of proteasome inhibition are explained in a separate review.
Carnosine protects the proteasome and hence fights Alzheimer´s disease. Carnosine is a dipeptide, also called a neuropeptide and neurotransmitter. Patients with Alzheimer´s disease develop extracellular deposits of amyloid protein and microscopic tangles of fibrils inside nerve cells. In experiments, treatment with carnosine was found to reduce or completely prevent cell damage caused by ß-amyloid. Carnosine blocks and inactivates ß-amyloid, so it protects neural tissues against dementia.
Moreover, carnosine protects the brain cells by fighting the highly toxic alpha, beta-unsaturated aldehyde acrolein which is formed during the peroxidation of polyunsaturated lipids, raising the possibility that it functions as a 'toxicological second messenger' during oxidative cell injury.
Recent research also confirms that the toxic unsaturated aldehyde crotonaldehyde (CA) contributes to carbonylation resulting in protein damage during lipid peroxidation. As carnosine combats all aldehydes, it offers another explanation for its benefits in prevention of Alzheimer´s disease and other conditions with oxidative stress. Moreover, Carnosine protects proteasomes, protein molecules which detoxify the brain cells, and Carnosine removes toxic heavy metals from the brain cells in a biochemical process called chelation.

A team led by a Canadian researcher has discovered a process by which a small protein acts directly within muscles to increase the body's metabolism to burn fat while simultaneously suppressing appetite. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=41666