biolivcious – BioQuakes

An exciting new study at the St. Louis University Medical School, has gave way to a new theory regarding the prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease. The geriatric researcher, Dr. Susan Farr Ph.D, disclosed at Neuroscience 2013, that extracts of spearmint and rosemary can “reduce deficits caused by mild cognitive impairment, which can be a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease,”.

The research was conducted on an animal model, so there is no conclusive human evidence yet. But Dr. Farr’s results seem promising in that her tests using an “antioxidant-based ingredient” made from spearmint extract and two different concentrations of a similar antioxidant made from rosemary extract on mice that have age-related cognitive decline.

Farr found that the higher dose rosemary extract compound had the most impact in increasing memory and learning in three tested behaviors. The lower concentration rosemary extract improved memory in two of the behavioral tests, as did the compound made from spearmint extract.

Her research also found that the introduction of these extracts to the subjects’ systems decreased oxidative stress, a “hallmark of age-related decline” in the cerebrum, the learning and memory center of the brain.

As Dr. Farr continues her promising research, are you going to find yourself chewing more spearmint gum?

wildsingapore.com on flickr

When one usually thinks of a coral reef they think of bright vibrant colors… this may not be the case anymore. A recent study has found that climate change may be depleting coral of its color. In a process called “bleaching” the color is removed from the coral when the symbiotic algae that provide nutrients to the coral either lose their photosynthetic pigmentation and their ability to perform photosynthesis or disappear entirely from the coral’s tissue.

While this strange and disturbing phenomenon has been receiving a lot of attention, there is very little concrete knowledge about the exact molecular process that causes the bleaching. Many hypothesized that the bleaching is a result chloroplast damage due to heat stress, which results in the production of toxic, highly reactive oxygen molecules during photosynthesis, they are linking the origin of the heat stress back to climate change.

To test this theory a team of researchers from Carnegie led by Arthur Grossman and accompanied by a few other scientist from Stanford conducted a study that resulted in the surprising discovery that the bleaching occurs when the algae is not performing photosynthesis, while it is surprising the team also concluded that it could be beneficial to aid in the fight against coral decline. “This is surprising since it means that toxic oxygen molecules formed in heat-damaged chloroplasts during photosynthetic reactions during the light are likely not the major culprits that cause bleaching.” (biologynews.net)

While their initially theory was incorrect, this research has now motivated further study into the molecular functions of coral as well as further efforts toward coral preservation.

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2013/09/05/clues_in_coral_bleaching_mystery.html

BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Author: biolivcious

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