Effects of coral calcium 1

Running head: EFFECTS OF CORAL CALCIUM

The effects of Coral Calcium on Amyloid beta proteins in mice that have Alzheimers disease.

Amber Aguirre Amanda Whitmill Travis Zaplac

Application for the Johnson Research Funding opportunity Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi April 4, 2008

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Abstract Alzheimers disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease that is one of the most common causes of dementia in elderly people 3. Alzheimers disease is characterized by cognition and memory impairment 6. Alzheimers affects over four and a half million people in the United States alone and is predicted to continue to grow 16. Advancing age is one of the most significant risk factors for the development of Alzheimers disease 16. The cause of Alzheimers is due to the deterioration of a patients cognitive and functional abilities 14. Eventually, in Alzheimers, a stage is reached when total nursing care is required, and ultimately the disease is fatal with a survival rate of 6-10 years 16. Alzheimers slowly causes individuals to lose human qualities such as memory, insight, judgment, and language 19. One of the main causes of Alzheimers disease is the impairment of the amyloid beta protein. Due to the rise in the cases that are coming about around the nation we felt that it was necessary to conduct an experiment on mice that tests the effects of coral calcium, a substance said to possibly reverse the symptoms or possibly prevent Alzheimers disease, on mice that have been fixed to have Alzheimers disease. Introduction Alzheimers disease is a common neurodegenerative disease, associated with aging. This disease is essentially brought on by aggregation of misfolded proteins and mitochondrial dysfunction 1, 4, 9, 15. Of these proteins, the ones most commonly associated with the development of Alzheimers disease are amyloid-beta and amyloid precursor protein (APP). Alzheimers also is a disease in which the overproduction and accumulation of amyloid beta peptides result in synaptic dysfunction 8. Much debate lies in the understanding the specific functions of these and other proteins and chemicals associated with Alzheimers disease. Amyloid beta is a small 39-43 amino acid peptide 4. The amyloid beta protein is a physiological peptide secreted from neurons under normal conditions both in vitro and in vivo 11. The protein amyloid beta affects the balance of mitochondrial fission/fusion and mitochondrial transport, which negatively affects or impacts the host of cellular functions of neurons 15. Amyloid beta peptides are produced as a result of a two step proteolytic cleavage of transmembrane amyloid precursor protein

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(APP) by - and - secretases 8. The accumulation and aggregation of amyloid beta depends on the balance of amyloid beta generation 15. The accumulation of amyloid beta in the mitochondria seems to have many different interactions between different signaling pathways, which lead to the symptoms of Alzheimers disease 15. There are many different aspects that effect amyloid beta and the pathogenesis of Alzheimerdisease. Regulating androgens and the development of Alzheimers disease support consideration of androgen therapy as a treatment that could someday prevent or perhaps cure Alzheimers disease 16. One mechanism by which sex steroid hormones may affect the development of Alzheimers disease is regulation of beta-amyloid protein (amyloid beta) levels 18. Balance of the mitochondrial transport is affected negatively impacting a host of cellular functions of neurons because of amyloid beta
15

. Several in vitro studies of A and mitochondrial function have reported that A affects mitochondrial

DNA and proteins, leading to impairment of the electron transport chain and ultimately mitochondrial dysfunction 5. Another aspect affecting the pathogenesis of this disease includes the X11 alpha and the X11 beta, which are two neuronal X11s that inhibit the amyloid precursor protein processing and the overall production of amyloid beta 12. X11 alpha has been shown to inhibit the production and deposition of amyloid beta in the brains of transgenic mice 13. These three aspects that affect amyloid beta, their production and the pathogenesis of Alzheimers disease are just a few things that scientists have been testing and looking into that could possibly lead to a cure or prevention of Alzheimers disease. Neurobiological, genetic, and molecular studies have defined the vulnerable neural systems, abnormalities in cytoskeletal proteins in neurons, the biology of the amyloid beta precursor protein 17. Many of these vulnerable neurons develop the neurofibrillary tangles which aid in the pathogenesis of Alzheimers disease 17. The reported number of patients with Alzheimers is predicted to rise if nothing is done to stop it. Aims of the proposed study The role for Amyloid beta (as a normal human protein) in mediating essential neurochemical pathways, however, is unlikely limited to cholesterol homeostasis. Other pathways cannot be excluded

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and should be studied further in greater detail 2. As prolonged life expectancy has increased the proportion of the population that is elderly, Alzheimers disease has emerged as a major problem in the United States
7

. Over 24 million people worldwide are estimated to be currently demented and, with the projected rise in

the elderly population over coming decades, this will rise to 81 million by 2040 12. Alzheimers disease is going to become an even greater problem and unfortunately disease-modifying treatments are not yet available 12. Although the cause of Alzheimers disease is unknown, recent molecular and biological research, along with classical neuropathological techniques, has contributed lots of information and insights into the pathogenesis of Alzheimers disease 7. As of now the studies and research that is being done to find out what might be able to cure or perhaps prevent Alzheimers disease is being done on animals such as mice. For such reasons as what we discussed so far, we believe that it is completely necessary to take a substance that has been said to help the factors of Alzheimers disease and test it out. Among the few common things that scientists have said could help Alzheimers disease we found Coral Calcium. Calcium is one of the most important minerals that the human body requires 10. It is necessary for and enormous range of bodily functions and so, as you would expect, if the human body is deficient in it then it can lead to health problems, one in which is Alzheimers 10. Coral calcium is a form of calcium that is claimed to be derived from shells that once made up coral reefs. This coral calcium can be found in tablets in which we are going to crush up and feed to our mice to test if this theory really works. Materials/Budget 6 mice with Alzheimers disease (used to perform the tests on) $11,400.00 9 bottles(60 tablets per bottle) Coral Calcium (fed to three of the mice, one tablet a day) $197.91 Housing for the mice (one cage for the mice treated with coral calcium and one for the control group) $29.98 Water bottles (for the mice to have a source of water) $9.56 50 lb. bag of mice food $32.55 6, 9 quart bags of Bedding (to put on the bottom of the cages) $35.82

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2 mice wheels (one for each of the two cages, for exercise) $9.98 Dissecting Utensils (dissecting kit) $10.00 Dissecting Microscope $300.00 Blank slides (to prepare the pieces of the mice brains for observation) $6.98 2 boxes of latex gloves (worn anytime handling the mice or mice parts) $16.98 TOTAL BUDGET = $12,049.80
Table 1 Distribution of the money planning to be spent

$315.80 , 3%

$333.96 , 3% Mice S upplies to care for the m ice m icros cope and other s upplies $11,400.00, 94%

Table 1 shows where the money we will spend is being spent. As you can tell by looking at the chart, the majority of the money we are planning to spend will be spent on the special mice that we need that have been fixed to have Alzheimers disease. The rest of the money spent will be pretty evenly distributed between the supplies needed to care for the mice, and the microscopes and materials needed to view the mice brains.

Effects of coral calcium 6 Table 2

Mice
Mice fixed to have Alzheimers $11,400.00

Supplies needed to care for the mice

Coral Calcium $197.91 Mice cages $29.98 Water bottles $9.56 Mice food $32.55 Bedding $35.82 Exercise wheel $9.98

Microscope and other supplies needed

Dissecting utensils $10.00 Microscope $300.00 Blank slides $6.98 Latex gloves $16.98

TOTAL= $11,400.00

TOTAL= $315.80

TOTAL= $333.96

In table two you are able to see exactly how the cost of the supplies adds up to make the total cost of our experiment. Here you can see that again the majority of our money will be spent on just the mice needed to conduct the experiment. After the mice are purchased the remaining money is split almost evenly between the cost to keep the mice alive and the supplies needed to take a look at the brains of these mice after the 6 months of feeding them the coral calcium.

Methods In order, to gain results for out experiment we will be observing the effects of coral calcium on mice with Alzheimers disease. To obtain the most effective data we will start off with a total of six mice that have Alzheimers disease and divide them up in two groups of three placing each group in a different cage. One group of mice will be use as the control and the other group will be the group that we will test the effects of coral calcium on. In the first cage we will feed the mice just regular mice food, and in the second cage we will feed the mice regular mice food along with coral calcium. We will do this three times a day for a total of six months. Over the period of the six months observations will be recorded related to the characteristics and actions of the mice. After the six months the mice will be killed and examined. The brains of the mice will be taken and compared from both groups. While observing the brains of both groups of mice we will be able to determine if coral calcium does or does not actually have an effect on mice with Alzheimers.

Effects of coral calcium 7 Conclusion/Anticipated results

In the research being proposed our overall goal is to correlate a relationship between coral calcium and the brain of an Alzheimers disease patient. We will relate the two using mice that have been fixed to have Alzheimers. From our previous research we found strong evidence to support the idea that presence and buildup of certain compounds or proteins can have an effect on a patients likelihood of developing or maintaining Alzheimers disease. In this case the coral calcium should markedly decrease the presence of amyloid plaques and amyloid protein in the transgenic mice with Alzheimers, since this substance is most commonly associated with AD. In our design we are to have one control group of transgenic mice that will not be given any supplements. Then we are to have one experimental group who will receive coral calcium in addition to the normal food portion that all the other mice receive. This is to occur over a period of six months and at the end of his period the mice shall be properly euthanized and biopsied to determine the effects of coral calcium on the progression of AD. Because we are assuming that coral calcium shall reduce the progression or development of AD in the transgenic mice there should be some noticeable differences in deposition and production of certain compounds, such as amyloid beta, between those mice in the control group ad those in the experimental group. Attaining the ability to conduct such an experiment could be vital to the future of Alzheimers disease research, furthermore, finding to support our hypothesis could lead to new drug or even diet treatments for those who have already developed Alzheimers disease.

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