Navigation Links
'Escaped' proteins add to hearing loss in elderly, UF researchers find
Date:11/10/2009

alled Bak is known to play a role in the weakening of the mitochondrial membrane. The more of the protein present, the leakier the mitochondrial membrane becomes, allowing harmful proteins to travel out into the rest of the cell.

Bak is typically induced by oxidative stress and its levels increase as people age. The researchers wanted to see whether its absence would prevent the age-related hearing loss that is associated with the death of certain sensory hair, nerve and membrane cells in the inner ear.

Hearing tests showed that Bak-deficient middle-aged mice were found to have hearing levels comparable to that of young mice. In addition, fewer of the critical hearing cells died, compared with so-called wild type mice that did not have the protein deficiency.

To examine how resistant the inner ear cells of the Bak-deficient mice were, the researchers exposed cells to a chemical that causes oxidative stress. Such stress generally induces Bak expression in inner ear cells.

There was only minor loss of cochlear cells at all doses of the stressor chemical, in contrast with the level observed in wild-type animals. The researchers concluded that Bak promotes cochlear cell death in response to oxidative stress.

"This paper clearly shows us that oxidative stress causes hearing loss," said Jinze Xu, a postdoctoral fellow in Leeuwenburgh's group, and second author of the paper.

So if oxidative stress triggers damage and death of hearing-related cells, enhancing the antioxidant defenses of the mitochondria should reduce such damage.

The researchers found that both in animals that had excess amounts of an enzyme that scavenges reactive oxygen species, as well as in those who were fed certain antioxidants orally, onset of age-related hearing loss was delayed.

"It looks like a viable biological target that may be applicable to drug use," Leeuwenburgh said. "The issue is always timing when to start antioxidan
'/>"/>

Contact: Czerne M. Reid
czerne@ufl.edu
352-273-5814
University of Florida
Source:Eurekalert

0

GOOD

Page: 1 2 3

Related biology news :

1. Researchers identify proteins involved in new neurodegenerative syndrome
2. NIH awards researcher $1.5 million new innovator grant for fruit-fly studies of prion proteins
3. Depression, aging, and proteins made by a virus may all play role in heart disease
4. New approach builds better proteins inside a computer
5. Legionnaires bacterial proteins work together to survive
6. Proteins pack tighter in crowded native state
7. MIT IDs proteins key to brain function
8. Cystic fibrosis proteins photographed interacting
9. Using carbon nanotubes to seek and destroy anthrax toxin and other harmful proteins
10. The precise role of seminal proteins in sustaining post-mating responses in fruit flies
11. Carnegie Mellon scientists develop fluorescent proteins for live cell imaging, biosensor design
Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
(Date:5/17/2013)... Sustainable Global Logistics Operations) is aiming to cut CO2 ... intermodal loading systems and the boosting of intelligent systems ... with experience in the logistics sector and in supply ... a duration of three and a half years. , ... components and ontologies shared by the users, objects and ...
(Date:5/16/2013)... 2013) Illustrating a commitment to the support ... Association (AGA) Research Foundation has announced the inaugural ... Award recipients. Supported by the National Institute of ... new award helps underrepresented minority students to further ... research. , "By establishing this new award, AGA ...
(Date:5/16/2013)... scientists have used ancient shorelines to predict the stability of ... a high shoreline from three million years ago, for example ... were thought to be evidence of a high sea level ... has led many scientists to think that if the world,s ... do just the same in our modern, progressively warming world. ...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):New logistics services that will cut energy consumption and CO2 emissions 2Underrepresented minority students receive fellowships in digestive disease and nutrition research 2World's biggest ice sheets likely more stable than previously believed 2
... While studying how a cell keeps its genetic material intact, ... two catalysts vital to managing a yeast cell's energy. They ... of them led the cell to turn off 70 percent ... unprepared for such a dramatic event," says Jef Boeke, Ph.D., ...
... A new study reveals how the production of a ... in natural killer (NK) cells, immune cells that typically ... IFNg, produced by NK cells and other cell types, ... in defending against tumor cells. However, overproduction of IFNg ...
... Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have identified potential ovarian ... of treating these tumors with standard chemotherapy. Understanding ... lead to new approaches to treating ovarian cancer, which ... their fifth most common cause of cancer death. The ...
Cached Biology News:Johns hopkins researchers find link between cell's energy use and genome health 2Johns hopkins researchers find link between cell's energy use and genome health 3Research reveals control of potent immune regulator 2Mass. General study finds potential ovarian cancer stem cells 2
(Date:5/19/2013)... MA (PRWEB) May 19, 2013 The ... social media training online, has proudly announced that the ... small business has surpassed 175,000 views on YouTube. The ... social media and SEO tips and training for small ... my students find the YouTube tips helpful for their ...
(Date:5/17/2013)... German . ... eye, you can see which branch a bird is sitting ... through the telephoto lens for high-magnification images requires considerable skill. ... to study proteins, the active biomolecules of cells. , Olga ... Systems Biology, and her colleagues have now come up with ...
(Date:5/17/2013)... PALO ALTO, Calif. , May 17, 2013 ... that it has achieved 50% enrollment of the ... trial to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy ... Progenitor Cells) therapy for Knee Osteoarthritis (KOA). To ... Effect (SAE) reported. The Phase I ...
(Date:5/17/2013)... The paradigm of ‘one drug, one ... can help predict the adverse and therapeutic effects of ... of Computational Biology at the Genomics Laboratory, Covance, will ... high-quality genomics when used as part of the QC ... data sets to identify key clinical targets even in ...
Breaking Biology Technology:YouTube Channel on SEO Tips Surpasses 175,000 Views, Announces JM Internet Group 2Proteome atlas for the tuberculosis pathogen 2Proteome atlas for the tuberculosis pathogen 3Cellular Biomedicine Group Achieves 50% Enrollment Milestone in Phase I Clinical Trial for Knee Osteoarthritis 2
... RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Jan. 9 Quintiles,Transnational ... its,Global Central Laboratories and Clinical Development Services (CDS) ... China., The new consolidated Quintiles China facility, ... located at Sun Dong Ann Plaza in Beijing, ...
... Burrill Merchant Banking acted as,exclusive financial advisor ... (teduglutide) with Nycomed.,Under the terms of the agreement, ... to Nycomed for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders., ... for the treatment of,short-bowel syndrome (SBS). SBS can ...
... MATEO, Calif., Jan. 9 NeurogesX, Inc.,(Nasdaq: NGSX ... therapies, today announced that it completed a $25.0,million private ... of,its late stage portfolio of novel pain management therapies., ... on Sunday, December,23, 2007, it entered into a securities ...
Cached Biology Technology:Quintiles Central Lab, Clinical Development in China to Expand, Relocate to New Facility 2Burrill Merchant Banking Advises NPS on Phase III Licensing Agreement 2NeurogesX Closes $25 Million Private Placement 2NeurogesX Closes $25 Million Private Placement 3NeurogesX Closes $25 Million Private Placement 4
...
Jak3 Antibody Ship: Hot Store: -20 C...
WASF2 Immunogen: WASF2 (NP_008921, 73 a.a. ~ 173 a.a) partial recombinant protein with GST tag. Storage: -20 C, Avoid Freeze/Thaw Cycles *Available for distribution in the US only...
Applications: Western blotting Stability: Room temperature, indefinitely ...
Biology Products: