Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
soon the ability to read the entire 25 000 genes of a person will become a great
tool in prospective diagnostic, while generating agonizing moral dilemmas for
parents who have to decide on how to act knowing that the future child will be
affected by a genetic disease.
Identifying the genes associated with neurological disorders may lead to a
better understanding of the contribution of a specific gene, the role of proteins
and related biochemical mechanisms, with practical application in phar-
macogenetics and the development of psychopharmaceuticals. A good example
of using high sensitivity methods to detect the effects of drugs on neurons is
illustrated in this topic in Chapter 5, where the behaviour of cells in resumes to
neurotrophic factors is discussed. In this work involving acoustic wave detection
it was shown that planar populations of neurons are indeed affected by such
experimental drugs, but the link between the physic and cellular characteristics
remains obscure. Even more challenging is the question of how relevant this type
of research is to medicine, and neurology in particular. The jury is out with
respect to this issue. Currently, neurological disorders are dicult to treat and
diagnosis, as specific biomarkers that identify distinct patient populations and
their response prognosis are not yet available. It has been seen with current
psychiatric disorders that, while one patient may have a complete, positive
response, another person with the very same diagnosis may have a terrible
response with horrible side effects. This suggests the need for genetic correlation
and the development of new methods to treat such diseases in a more person-
alized way, with targeted psychopharmaceutical treatments.
As a final remark in this section it is unsurprising to note that proteome and
proteomics, where the concentration is on the products of gene expression
rather than genes themselves, is still an extremely active and growing area of
research.
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7.5 Cognitive Enhancers
Research aimed at arresting or improving the cognitive decline that occurs
in conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, or the emotional mood in depression,
is extended in current times to healthy individuals. This includes a wide
cross-section of the community such as students cramming for exams, older
individuals concerned with loss of memory, and others concerned with
their overall level of intellectual 'performance'. Drugs such as Aricept and
rivastigmine, designed to boost acetylcholine transmission in Alzheimer's
patients or memantine, which affects glutamate neurotransmission, have been
seen as possible cognitive enhancers. There are adverse side effects connected
with the use of these drugs and, accordingly, it is doubtful if they will be
employed generally as cognitive enhancers.
The elucidation of the molecular mechanisms involved in synaptic
modulation during memory formation might reveal molecular alternatives.
Some possibilities would be substances that mimic the normal role of the
amyloid precursor protein, or neuromodulators such as brain-derived nerve
growth factor. Another option would be represented by substances that turn on
