Quality of Brain Aging
In the next years, due to medical achievements that have considerably lengthened the life expectancy, researcher challenge will be to ensure the good quality of aging. This is particularly critical for the brain, this organ, more than any other suffers from diseases and age-related functional changes.
One of the goal of modern research in neurobiology is to identify risk factors, not only genetic factors, but also environmental and related to lifestyle, which may affect the quality of cerebral aging and also the predisposition for developement of age-related neurological diseases.
Fondazione IRET study a wide time range in which these factors may act on our brains and make it more vulnerable, focusing on the possible role of prenatal and adult life exposure to pharmacological factors, chronic stress, electromagnetic radiation, environmental pollutants.
Fondazione IRET has published important contributions related to treatment with glucocorticoids during pregnancy, exposure to electromagnetic fields of mobile telephon, pollutants derived from burning household and industrial waste.
Parkinson’s Desease
Parkinson’s Disease is considered as a secondary motor disorder derived from basal ganglia dysfunction (formations placed deeply on central nervous system).
In 1960 the definition of dopaminergic nigrostriatal via and discover of striatal dopamine loss have contributed to clarify the contribution between clinical events and pathological biochemistry. (dopamine is a neurotransmitter evolved into movement control)
The main clinical events of Parkinson’s disease are: bradykinesia, rigidity and tremor (closely related to dopamine loss). Other events could occur are: pain, tingling, sleep disturbances, depression and anxiety, impaired memory.
No substances are able to slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease.
Fondazione IRET works about the development and optimization of pre-clinical tests in Parkinson’s disease animal model.
These kind of tests will be used to evaluate the efficiency of biocompatible devices in the context of reparative medical interventions and regeneration of the nervous system.
For Parkinson’s disease animal model, just ready to use, it will be possible to optimize analysis systems adapted to the efficacy of drugs tests, biomedical devices, cellular therapies.
Important contributes are just published, which are relative to the neurochemistry involved in neurodegeneration underlying this disease.
Alzheimer’s Dementia
“Dementia” identifies a group of pathology that generate progressive impairment of cognitive abilities of the subject.
The most widespread form is Alzheimer’s disease, characterized by memory disorder, progressive progressive inability to face normal daily life, to perform intuitive and motor actions previously acquired, to maintain an adequate social behavior to the circumstances and to control own emotional reactions. All this in the absence of alertness impairment.
The pathogenesis is still unknown. There are two different ways of research: one studies the abnormal extracellular quantitative of beta amyloid protein, the second one is to underline, inside the neurons, the accumulation of Tau protein, which presents an abnormal phosphorylation and organizes itself in neuro fibrilla clusters.
In particularly in dementia cholinergic neurons are affected, especially those of the cortical areas. In subcortical areas the hippocampus is also very affected , which is involved in learning and memory processes.
Fondazione IRET has studied, in some kind of lesions model, the recovering of cholinergic via after treatment with cocktails of trophic factor and retinoic acid by involving endogen neural stem cells.
Fonadazione IRET is also involved in research project to study the efficiency of new molecules of beta amyloid metabolism and it has developed new methods for the dosage of beta amyloid fragments in human plasma even in healthy individuals.
One of the specific goals of Fondazione IRET is to identify the new targets for conventional (pharmacological) and innovative (cells) therapies.
Furthermore it studies the risk factors related to life style.
Stem cells for Neural repair
It is unknown the etiology and pathogenic mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases, which are characterized by a modest reparative capacity and functional recovery. The effects of neurological diseases are progressively worsening, leading to motor, sensory and cognitive disability
Advances in the field of stem cells have ignited the hope of applications in regenerative medicine also in the area of neurodegenerative diseases.
At the same time, the ever-increasing demand for effective therapeutic responses in this area has produced an offer of therapeutic proposals often uncontrolled and available on the web and the people with diseases and their relatives are completely bewildered by all of this information.
IRET Foundation studies the possibilities in repairing the central nervous system using stem cells.
IRET Foundation has published several work on endogenous neural stem cell repair and secretory properties of different cell types, focusing mainly on neurotrophic factors.
Meanwhile Fondazione IRET is committed to providing proper scientific information on these topics in order not to feed non-scientifically proven therapeutic expectations in patients.
Ataxia
Ataxia is a disorder consisted by coordination lack of voluntary movements.
Ataxia is manifested with a deficit in the accuracy and coordination of movement due to a paresis, an alteration in muscle tone, a sensory loss or the presence of involuntary movements.
The ataxia belongs to a group of rare genetic disorders like: Tereangectasic ataxia, Friedreich’s ataxia, spinocerebellar atassies, Charcot-Marie’s atassia, cerebellar atrophy, and oliveto-pontocerebellar ataxia.
It is possible to estimate that in Italy about 5000 people are affected by this kind of disorder, but there is not a complete census.
In collaboration with AISA (Associazione Italiana per la Lotta alle Sindromi Atassiche), Emila-Romagna section, Fondazione IRET has started a project to validate new models for diseases, to develop therapeutic strategies focuses on decrease or slow the neural degeneration.
Fondazione IRET recently has published a job about retrieval of locomotor activity post treatment with molecule used for Neuropathic pain
Chronic Pain
The pain represents fundamental signal for health and body integrity.
Pain perception permits to prevent structural damages and extinguish the pain symptom by removing the pathogen reason.
There are, however, conditions under which pain occurs without apparent cause or persist after the removal of the cause, becoming itself devastating chronic disease.
The study of chronic pain, for which therapeutic success is still modest, represents a sector of great interest not only scientific but also medical and social.
In particular the research is focused on molecular mechanisms mediate pathological pain to identify potential targets for new medicines.
Fondazione IRET studies the molecular and anatomic mechanisms which are the basis for the transition of inflammatory acute pain in chronic neuropathic.
Fondazione IRET has published important contributes to the neurochemical pathways of pain, and also it studies complementary medications, such as acupuncture and laser acupuncture, for controlling these syndromes.
