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JULY 28, 2003
Edited by Adam Aston The Stuff That Bad Dreams Are Made Of Sleep disorders can cause more than just sluggishness. Some 20 million Americans experience breathing disruptions due to obstructive sleep apnea, a condition that can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke. Others suffer from REM sleep behavior disorder, a terrifying condition that can cause them to walk, talk, or even pummel their bedmates as they act out their dreams. Scientists at the University of Michigan say they have identified chemicals that may play a role in these disorders and could help steer researchers to new therapies. Studying brain scans and sleep patterns of patients suffering from a rare neurological disease that causes insomnia, researchers discovered that people who are deficient in brain cells that produce acetylcholine suffered the worst sleep apnea episodes. And patients with low levels of dopamine in their brains experienced the most violent episodes of REM sleep behavior disorder. Imbalances in both these chemicals have been implicated in ailments such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Larger studies will be required to determine if the chemical imbalances actually cause the sleep disturbances. Still, says Dr. Sid Gilman, chair of the neurology department at the university's medical school, "this gives us a window into the basic science of some very debilitating disorders." By Arlene Weintraub Neural Stem Cells: No Fear of Rejection? Scientists have produced evidence that stem cells from the brain may be among the few tissues that can be transplanted from one body to another with minimal risk of rejection. These central nervous system cells lack the ability of embryonic stem cells to transform into almost any kind of tissue. But scientists at the Schepens Eye Research Institute in Boston, a Harvard Medical School affiliate, believe that the cells could be used to repair diseased spinal cords, brain tissue, and eyes, which are biologically part of the brain, without the need for immunosuppressive drugs. Usually, transplanted tissue is attacked by the recipient's immune system as a foreign invader. Without drugs holding the attack in check, the donor tissue is eventually destroyed. But neural stem cells appear to be immune-protected by nature -- possibly because intense inflammatory responses in the brain would do too much damage. The Schepens team, led by assistant scientist Michael J. Young, tested this hypothesis by extracting brain-stem cells from mature mice and inserting them into other mice. The transplant site was a pouch surrounding the kidney that is known to mount an aggressive immune response. After four weeks, none of the transplanted stem cells had been rejected. Instead, they grew into neural tissue. Young says the discovery could lead to the improvement of retinal transplants for patients with eye diseases and to brain-cell transplants for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. The study was published in the July issue of the journal Stem Cells. By Catherine Arnst   A Head Start in Treating Multiple Sclerosis It's tricky to diagnose multiple sclerosis, a degenerative neurological disease that can lead to paralysis. Doctors often misinterpret early symptoms, such as tingling, blurred vision, and tremors. And even when MS is suspected, current tests involve repeated MRI scans over several months. A blood test developed by researchers at Austria's University of Innsbruck takes just two days to process, costs about one-tenth as much as an MRI scan, and could be available within a year. The test identifies two types of antibodies that occur in people who develop full-blown MS. "The potential of the test is to evaluate whether a patient needs immediate treatment or not," says Thomas Berger, who led the study published in the July 10 issue of the The New England Journal of Medicine. In about 35% of new cases, early treatment prevents relapse, while reducing the severity of later attacks when they do occur. By Christina Passariello Vanishing Act in the Caribbean Coral reefs are among the richest, most diverse concentrations of life on earth. Sadly, these delicate ecosystems are dying off at an alarming rate. One of the most comprehensive warnings of this trend comes from a group of researchers at Britain's University of East Anglia. It compiled data from studies covering 264 sites across the Caribbean and, for the first time, assessed overall damage throughout the region. Their findings, published in the July 18 issue of Science, show that in the past three decades, the cover of live coral on Caribbean reefs has fallen by 80% -- greater than the loss rate for tropical forests over the same period. When the organisms that create coral die off in an area, a menagerie of fish and other interdependent creatures soon disappear, leaving behind a lifeless, gray reef. While the rate of loss slowed somewhat after peaking in the 1980s, the study shows that it has held steady in recent years. Now, as in the '80s, the chief culprits in the devastation of the reefs are fishing, pollution, and other factors related to human activity.
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