1. RESEARCH NEWS
EXPERIMENTAL MODELS
Drug's effect on Alzheimer's may depend on severity
of disease
and
Mutation stops worms from getting drunk
Laura Cristina Castrillón Valencia
Medicine student

2. FOLDING

3. FOLDING

4. Cells as Experimental Models
In the investigation, specially medical
research is used the scientific method, which
is based in the evidence; work with humans
in a laboratory or in an experimental
treatment is very expensive and unethical,
for the possible risks that have an
experimental process, for that reason several
different kind of cells and organisms are used
for experimental trials, it is possible because
although phenotypically organisms are
different, the unit of the live, the cell, has
characteristics and the fundamental
properties, which have been conserved
during evolution, it allows perform changes
with one type of cell and apply the similar
process to other cells.
In this presentation you could know
two different examples of
organisms as experimental models
used in investigation: A transgenic
mouse studied in an Alzheimer ´s
disease and a mutant worms that
don’t get intoxicated by alcohol,
which could be lead to new drugs
to treat the symptoms of people
going through alcohol withdrawal.

5. Drug's effect on Alzheimer's
may depend on severity of
disease
¿What is about this new?
Researchers at the
University of Illinois at
Chicago College of
Medicine work in a
transgenic mouse, which
currently is the best
animal model of the
Alzheimer´s disease (AD),
because it has a human
gene that confers on
people a 15-fold elevated
risk of developing AD.
They are doing tests
with a cancer drug,
bexarotene, which in
late-stage Alzheimer´s
reduces 40 percent
levels of neurotoxic
protein amiloyd-beta,
which is increased in
AD.

6. Alzheimer's disease
It is the most common form
of dementia in older people.
It affects parts of the brain that control
thought, memory and language
Dementia
Symptoms caused by disorders that
affect the brain
It is the progressive loss of cognitive
functions, but not a specific disease
Drug's effect on Alzheimer's may depend on severity
of disease

7. One of the principal characteristics of
the Alzheimer’s diseases is the
accumulation dense plaques in the
brain composed of clumps of amyloid-
beta.
Everybody produce this protein in the brain,
but there are a mechanism responsible to
clean this clumps, it is for ApoE , which is a
protein mutated in patients with AD.
Drug's effect on Alzheimer's may depend on
severity of disease

8. “ApoE4 is the greatest genetic risk
factor for Alzheimer´s disease”,
said LaDu, who is one of the
researcher.
Alzheimer treatment pretends
eliminate clumps of amyloid-beta,
for that reason the investigations
are focus in this challenge.
Bexarotene is a cancer drug used
for skin cancer, but also it reduces
the clumps of amyloid-beta.
Drug's effect on Alzheimer's may depend on severity
of disease

9. I think is very important have different points of
view about the same problem investigation,
because diseases like Alzheimer, which is
unknown the real cause and just know some
characteristics of the diseases need advance in
the evidence about the hypothesis raised, and in
this case the use of cells as experimental models
is crucial to reduce the experimenter bias and
propose solutions for diseases that are increase
exponentially.
Drug's effect on Alzheimer's may depend on severity
of disease
PERSONAL OPINION

10. Mutation stops worms from getting drunk
Mutant worms have been generated by researchers at The University of Texas at
Austin, who pretend create a new drug to treat the symptoms of people going
through alcohol withdrawal.
Scientists insert a modified human alcohol target into
the worms, which give them the first example of
altering a human alcohol target to prevent
intoxication in an animal.
Caenorhabditis elegans, was the model
intoxication used in the study.

11. Mutation stops worms from getting drunk
- Alcohol causes the worms to slow their crawling with less
wriggling from side to side.
- The intoxicated worms also stop laying eggs, which build up
in their bodies and can be easily counted.
But these worms are not as ideal for studying the other areas of
alcohol addiction, for that reason mice cold be an excellent
model.
What happen with worms´s modification?

12. Mutation stops worms from getting drunk
It is any neuronal
molecule that binds
alcohol
The effects of alcohol on
the body are complex and
have many targets across
the brain
One important aspect of this
modified alcohol target: a
neuronal channel called the
BK channel, which has several
functions
The mutation only affects
its response to alcohol
Alcohol target

13. Mutation stops worms from getting drunk
Typically regulates many important
functions including activity of
neurons, blood vessels, the
respiratory tract and bladder.
The voltage- and Ca(2+)-activated K(+)
(BK) channels.
It is very important in the
neurotransmitter´s regulation and
neural excitability
Structurally are homologous to
voltage and ligand-gated K(+)
channels, having a voltage sensor and
pore as the membrane-spanning
domain and a cytosolic domain
containing metal binding sites
BK channels also contribute to the
behavioral effects of ethanol in the
worm C. elegans
BK channel

14. Mutation stops worms from getting drunk
PERSONAL OPINION
For the human, the self-will is the most complicated
psychological aspects of dealing, and currently molecular
biology and genetic are the future of medicine, according to
these ideas, I think this investigation is a perfect example of
the molecular and genetic application: prevent problems in
alcohol abuse disorders using modified human alcohol target.

15. MEDICAL UTILITY
Currently in the word 26 million people suffer from some form
of dementia. Predictions says that the number could be double
every 20 years until 81 million in 2040.

16. Clinical trials are used in medicine to
study and analyze the behavior of
some treatment with the
objective to improve alternatives for
some diseases.
Alzheimer is the most common form
of dementia and there are several
investigation focus in this disease.
MEDICAL UTILITY

17. MEDICAL UTILITY
The results of this
investigation could
potentially be used
to treat alcoholics,
since it would
counteract the
intoxicating and
potentially
addicting effects of
the alcohol.

18. MEDICAL UTILITY
These modified mice would
allow scientists to
investigate whether this
particular alcohol target
also affects tolerance,
craving and other
symptoms relevant to
humans.

19. BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Case Western Reserve University. Hallan forma de revertir los efectos del Alzheimer en el cerebro. [ online ].
BBC mundo, 2012. <Avaible from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/noticias/2012/02/120210_alzheimer_farmaco_placas_men.shtml> [
Retrieved July 18, 2014]
2. COOPER, GM. The Cell: A Molecular Approach. 2nd edition. Sunderland (MA): Sinauer Associates; 2000. Cells
As Experimental Models. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9917/
3. MARTINEZ SÁNCHEZ, Lina María. Biología molecular. 2. ed. Medellín: UPB. Fac. de Medicina, 2012. 10-12p.
4. University of Illinois at Chicago. Drug's effect on Alzheimer's may depend on severity of disease. [ online ].
ScienceDaily, 2014. . <Avaible on: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140716123450.htm> [ Retrieved
July 16, 2014]
5. University of Illinois at Chicago. Mutation stops worms from getting drunk. [ online ]. ScienceDaily, 2014. .
<Avaible from: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140715214303.htm> [ Retrieved July 16, 2014]

20. THANKS