Phosphatidylserine, a natural food supplement sometimes used to treat older people experiencing memory impairment, might also prove useful in treating people with degenerative brain disorders.
Produced from beef, oysters and soy, the supplement is widely available in pharmacies and health food stores and promoted as helping to improve cognition and slow memory loss.
Now a team headed by professor Gil Ast and Dr. Ron Bochner of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Human Molecular Genetics maintains that phosphatidylserine improves the functioning of genes involved in degenerative brain disorders, including Parkinson’s disease and Familial Dysautonomia (FD).
In FD, a rare genetic disorder that impacts the nervous system and appears almost exclusively in the Ashkenazi Jewish population, a genetic mutation prevents the brain from manufacturing healthy IKAP proteins — which likely have a hand in cell migration and aiding connections between nerves — leading to the early degeneration of neurons. When the supplement was applied to cells taken from FD patients, the gene function improved and an elevation in the level of IKAP protein was observed, according to Ast. These results were replicated in a second experiment that involved administering the supplement orally to mouse populations with FD.
The findings, published in the journal Human Molecular Genetics, are encouraging, Ast said. “That we see such an effect on the brain — the most important organ in relation to this disease — shows that the supplement can pass through the blood-brain barrier even when administered orally, and accumulate in sufficient amounts in the brain.”