Vasogen's Research Published in European Journal of Ne...( - VP025 Provides a Neuroprotecti...)

- VP025 Provides a Neuroprotective Effect in Preclinical Model of

Parkinson's Disease -

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Jan. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Vasogen Inc. (NASDAQ:VSGN; TSX:VAS), a biotechnology company engaged in the research and commercial development of therapies designed to target the destructive inflammatory process associated with the development and progression of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disorders, today announced the publication of preclinical findings demonstrating that Vasogen's VP025, the leading candidate from its VP series of drugs, provides a significant neuroprotective effect in a model of Parkinson's disease. The research, which was conducted at the University College Cork, Ireland, was published in the European Journal of Neuroscience (Vol 27, pp.294-300, 2008).

Evidence is accumulating that inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. Microglial cells (immune cells resident in the brain) are activated in Parkinson's disease, producing pro-inflammatory factors that result in the death of nerve cells in an area of the brain called the nigrostriatal pathway. The published research was based on a well-established model of Parkinson's disease that involves the generation of a lesion on one side of the brain by the introduction of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), inducing abnormal behaviour resulting in rotational movement. Both Parkinson's disease and 6-OHDA administration are associated with inflammatory processes that lead to the death of certain nerve cells, the dopaminergic neurons, which produce the neurotransmitter dopamine. It is the loss of these neurons and thereby the dopamine they produce that results in the movement abnormalities s
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