New SymPath kit measures DBH activity of Sympathetic Nervous System

Oct 4 2010

Neuro-Biotech Corporation (PINKSHEET: MRES)(OTCQB:MRES) in acquiring licenses to commercialize 12 Neuro-biomarkers has first focused on SymPath(R) and is now ready to give you the opportunity to shed some light about this Neuro-biomarker of the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS). Here is a peak into the research behind the Neuro-blood testing that will be available to all patients through their health system.

It is important to pinpoint that DBH was first described in 1955 and reviewed in 1965 by Kaufman & Friedman. In 1974, Geffen has described DBH as a biomarker of the SNS. At that moment, in the Journal of Neurochemistry, Roberge et al. (1976) have published that an inversed relationship occurs between the brain dopamine and serotonin content on a neuroanatomical basis. As in the brain, the noradrenergic and serotoninergic pathways are closed together at the level of the locus coereleus, the raphei nuclei and the brainstem, respectively (Roberge & Poirier, 1973, 1974) and that, to an increased dopamine content following the administration of L-DOPA in monkeys did not correspond to increased noradrenaline content within several neuroanatomical structures in the brain. Moreover, it was demonstrated that DBH was involved in anxiety and depression (Friedman et al., 1984).

In this respect, working with 15 to 18 different brain structures, the effects observed in the structures related to the motor system were different to those noted within the mesolimbic system - it was the starting point to understand how DBH is working to be the key enzyme in the noradrenaline synthesis.

The kinetic DBH enzyme activity and biochemical parameters were respectively studied in the brain, adrenals and blood of different species such as monkeys, cats, rats, rabbits, fish, mink, sheep and human beings using various stressful situations and several drugs. In this respect, Parkinson Disease, Alzheimer, Schizophrenia and stress related diseases were respectively studied working with catecholaminergic, serotoninergic and cholinergic pathways related to the motor system (monkeys), to the memory mechanisms (cats), learning disabilities (human beings), anorexia nervosa (human beings), bulimia (developing a model with rats in regards to people waiting for bypass surgery). As the relationship between the brain and the HPAS Axis is a key issue in stress related diseases, various stressful situations such as, cold exposure, immobilization and treadmill in rats, hypoxia in fish, a workload in a swimming pool in humans, food behaviours using cats, rabbits, rats, minks and fishes. Finally, in rats, the effects of spontaneously hypertensive state on DBH enzyme activity were compared to clinical data obtained from a group of post MI people.

DBH, the synthesising enzyme of noradrenaline from dopamine, is a copper and ascorbate dependent. Noradrenaline, a vasoconstrictor, is released within the blood from the SNS with DBH. Its biochemical and kinetic parameters were studied in brain, adrenals and serum (Fortin & Roberge, 1992) and in human beings to figure out how a commercial kit could be useful for different clinical purposes on a daily basis (US Patent (#5879902) and Canadian Patent (# 2204179)). In human beings, several studies were conducted involving different sexes, age, Rhesus factor, blood groups, seasonal variations, diurnal rhythms and endocrine functions..

In summary, noradrenaline, a vasoconstrictor, is released within the blood from the SNS with DBH. A commercial kit named SymPath(R) has been developed to quantitatively standardize the measurement kit of the specific activity of DBH released within the blood from the SNS. In this regards, the clinical data allow to distinguish anxious disorders from depressive disorders - that is a breakthrough in neurosciences.