JNCASR scientists developed a natural product based Alzheimer inhibitor

JNCASR scientists have developed a natural product based Alzheimer inhibitor. Scientists from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) have modified the structure of Berberine, a natural and cheap product similar to curcumin, available commercially, into Ber-D to use as a Alzheimer’s inhibitor.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2020

Key-Points

The scientist selected isoquinoline natural product berberine found in India and China and used in traditional medicine and other applications.

Because of berberine’s poor solubility and toxicity to cells, it was modified into Ber-D.

Ber-D is soluble (aqueous), antioxidant.

It is a multifunctional inhibitor of multifaceted amyloid toxicity of Alzheimer’s disease.

Ber-D prevents the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and rescues biomacromolecules from oxidative damage.

Ber-D inhibits aggregations of metal-dependent and independent Amyloid beta (Aβ). These are the peptides of amino acids crucially involved in Alzheimer’s disease as the main component of the amyloid plaques found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.