Kathy
Well-known member
For a review of some of the abstracts and information discussed at the FATEPRIDE June meeting in Iceland go to the link:
http://www.arp-manchester.org.uk/documents/FINALDetailedProgrammeandAbstracts.p
You will find such statements as:
http://www.arp-manchester.org.uk/documents/FINALDetailedProgrammeandAbstracts.p
You will find such statements as:
Since World War II world soils have been "mined" for nutrients. This is because of the fact that in the developed world conventional agriculture only puts major nutrients into the soil in the form of N:K fertilisers. These fertilisers sometimes have added iron and calcium, in the case of acid soils, is added as lime. As a result food stuffs in the UK are up to 75% depleted in various minerals and trace metals relative to values half a century ago.
Minerals are fundamental for biochemical reactions in our bodies and hence our health. It is therefore not surprising that various diseases are increasing in animals and men when our soils and hence our food are so highly depleted in trace nutrients. It is of utmost importance that international organisations, including the European Commission, focus on soil protection in the immediate future to safeguard the health of people.
(type of genetic mouse important factor when determining treatment)Diet supplementation with Manganese of Cu-deficient 129SV mice resulted, also in terminally ill animals. ...
Conclusions. The histopathological findings here reported, including microglia activation and vacuolation in the cortex, as well as the appearance of neurological signs such as ataxia and hindlimb paresis, the surprising behaviour of the C4 mice in response to Cu-deficiency resembling their response to scrapie infection, the intriguing protective effect of Mn supplementation, all these features strongly suggest that common pathogenetic mechanisms underlie neurodegeneration in Cu-deficiency and prion diseases.
Previously, it was suggested that an imbalance in brain trace elements, such as the loss of Cu and an excess of Mn might result in conditions that led to the formation of this misfolded form. However, we found that PrP itself influences Mn and Cu metabolism and a replacement of Cu in PrP-Cu complexes with Mn is highly likely when excess amounts of Cu and Mn are present. Cu depletion might obviously not be a prerequisite.
We showed that not a loss in the amount of Cu is required but an excess of Mn is sufficient. This implies that imbalances in environmental Mn entering the food chain might favor the formation of proteinase-resistant PrP as formerly predicted for the cause of scrapie, CJD and chronic wasting disease occuring in disease clusters in Iceland, Slovakia and Colorado where the soil in these specific regions is high in
Mn.
Conclusively, PrP itself influences manganese and copper metabolism and a replacement of copper in PrP complexes with manganese is highly likely under the condition of copper depletion or if excess amounts of copper and manganese are present. Taken together, our present study demonstrates the involvement of PrP in the regulation of intracellular metal ion homeostasis and uncovers copper and more severely, manganese ions as in vivo risk factors for the conversion into PrPSc.
In the FatPriDe project Imperial College have concentrated their efforts on assessing the spatial correlation between the prevalence of TSEs and soil geochemistry.
The work initially involved the collection of relevant data and consolidation into a GIS database. The first year of the project also involved analysis and geostatistical modelling of the data, focusing on the distribution of copper and manganese in Northern Europe. In the second year further work aimed to integrate the data sources available in Northern Europe, extend the analysis to include Mo and Se for the same area and produce the first maps of copper, manganese and molybdenum in European scale using the collected data sets. Further datasets on UK and European incidence rates of TSEs were compiled. Multivariate geostatistical techniques were used on these data and the geochemical maps to try to establish links between the TSEs and geochemical variables and therefore identify potential risk factors.
The results indicate that there is a possibility of a link between scrapie, BSE and soil geochemistry, and it may be recommended that future investigations into environmental exposure to trace metals take into account factors which determine their mobility.
(what would these national veterinary bodies stand to gain by NOT CO-OPERATING with these scientists?)The difficulties within the field study were linked to the omerta, or lack of cooperation, observed with many national veterinary bodies, except in Italy and in one experimental farm in France. The study thus focused on farms in Toscany, Emiglia Romagna, and Garonne Regions. All investigated scrapie affected fields, although characterized by a variety of geological and topographical conditions, were had soils with high clay content, high easily reducible manganese and extremely small free copper activity in soil solution.
...one may conclude that indeed soil clay particles may induced the Cu-to-Mn exchange within the PrP 5th site and thus, in agreement with Molecular Dynamlics (see talk by Yves Chapron), may lead to the protein conformation change and thereafter to the development of scrapie disease.