Is drinking gold the cure for Parkinson's?
A sparkling shot of gold. Is this the magic solution to treat Parkinson's? US researchers have already conducted several rather encouraging clinical trials.
Gold nanocrystals that can repair molecules affected by neurodegenerative diseases? Can they? To understand how they really work, let's take a quick look at the ‘biology’.
To function properly, the brain needs a continuous supply of energy, energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), ‘a “fuel” required for a host of crucial chemical reactions in living things,’ Korii reports. It is the coenzyme ‘nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)’ that is responsible for ATP production. It is present in two forms: ‘an oxidised form (NAD+) and a reduced form (NADH).’
As we age, the process that allows NAD to do its job, switching from one form to the other, becomes progressively weaker and weaker. In someone with Parkinson's disease, for example, the weakening is much more severe and occurs more quickly.
Golden solution?
Several trials have been conducted in the United States in patients affected by a neurodegenerative disease. The aim is to ‘restore a correct ratio of NAD in its two forms, NAD+ and NADH, essential for the proper functioning of brain activity’, by orally administering a nanocrystal-based treatment. Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School are quite optimistic (but remain cautious) about the treatment's ability ‘to prevent or even reverse certain neurological disorders.’
Currently, 13 people with Parkinson's disease and 11 with multiple sclerosis have received the treatment. They were administered 120 ml of this gold drink each for 3 months. They drank the gold every morning. ‘A whole series of tests followed and helped prove that CNM-Au8 was indeed targeting the brain as expected, and that NAD+ and NADH levels increased significantly. From the fourth week of treatment, patients suffering from Parkinson's disease saw concrete improvements in motor skills.’
The researchers are now extending the test phase and plan to offer the nanocrystals to a larger test group soon.
(FVDV for Tagtik/Source: Korii/Illustration: Unsplash)
