The Institute for EthnoMedicine: The Research

Neurodegenerative

Institute for EthnoMedicine Research on ALS

The Institute for EthnoMedicine is making a major effort to find and fight the causes of ALS, sometimes known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, as well as other neurodegenerative illnesses. Our research in villages with high incidence rates of ALS have led us to hypothesize that an environmental neurotoxin may act as a trigger for this devastating illness.

We discovered that BMAA (beta-N-methylamino-l-alanine), a potent neurotoxin, is produced by cyanobacteria in the roots of the cycad trees of Guam. Through various pathways, BMAA enters the traditional diet of the Chamorro people of Guam. These villagers suffer one of the highest rates of an ALS-like disease in the world. In a blinded study, we found BMAA in brain tissues of Chamorros who died of ALS/PDC but not in brain tissues of healthy control patients. We have also isolated BMAA from the brain tissues of ALS and Alzheimer’s patients from North America, but not in healthy controls. Our findings were recently replicated by the University of Miami Department of Neurology.

BMAA is produced by all known morphological groups of cyanobacteria, so human exposure to low levels of BMAA may be widespread. We hypothesized that a protein reservoir, which exists within the body, absorbs BMAA and then slowly releases it over years and even decades, causing chronic damage to the motor neuron system. We suggest that exposure to low levels of BMAA may be mediated by most people through metabolism or excretion of BMAA. However, we suggest that a few individuals accumulate, rather than excrete BMAA, and these individuals may be at great risk for developing ALS. The best epidemiological data suggest that a gene/environment interaction probably lies at the roots of ALS/PDC in Guam and possibly sporadic ALS elsewhere. We suspect that BMAA combined with certain metal ions may cause serious damage to the motor neuron system in vulnerable individuals.

A biomarker which could aid in the rapid diagnosis of neurodegenerative disease would be of tremendous clinical benefit. Research at the Institute for EthnoMedicine suggests that BMAA can serve as such a biomarker. The Institute has invented a non-intrusive test for BMAA in the hair. If BMAA proves to be a biomarker for neurodegeneration, this test could allow rapid screening of large numbers of people, aiding not only in diagnosis of disease, but also in identification of those who are at high risk of BMAA-induced neurodegeneration.

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