cycas/sclerosis

We conducted an investigation of the levels of the neurotoxin 2-amino-3-(methylamino)-propanoic acid (BMAA) in cycad flour. Analysis of 30 flour samples processed from the endosperm of Cycas circinalis seeds collected on Guam indicated that more than 87% of the total BMAA content was removed during

The decline in the high incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, parkinsonism, and Alzheimer-type dementia among the Chamorro population of the western Pacific islands of Guam and Rota, coupled with the absence of demonstrable viral and hereditable factors in this disease, suggests the gradual

Understanding sporadic cases of age-dependent neurodegenerative diseases such as parkinsonism requires the evaluation of potential environmental factors. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-parkinsonism dementia complex (ALS-PDC), a neurological disorder in which features of parkinsonism are present and

The non-protein amino acid, beta-N-methyl-amino-L-alanine (L-BMAA) from Cycas circinalis seeds, has been implicated as a causative agent of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-Parkinsonism dementia complex (ALS-PDC), a disease known from Guam and other areas in the western Pacific. We analyzed C.

Age-related human neurodegenerative diseases are a major social and medical problem. It is therefore logical to take into consideration every theory with an overall approach to neurodegenerative diseases. This environmental proposal relies mainly on data concerning the Western Pacific amyotrophic

Neurotoxins contained in the seeds of Cycas micronesica K.D. Hill have been implicated in the Guam neurological disease cluster, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-parkinsonism dementia complex (ALS-PDC). Some of these neurotoxins remain in the washed cycad seed flour that was historically an important

Consumption of cycad seed products (Cycas circinalis) is one of the strongest epidemiological links to the Guamian neurological disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-parkinsonism-dementia complex (ALS-PDC), however, the putative toxin which causes neurodegeneration has never been identified

The L-isomer of beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), present in free form in seed of Cycas circinalis, elicits in spinal cord cultures a pattern of acute postsynaptic neuronal vacuolation comparable to that induced by beta-N-oxalylamino-L-alanine (BOAA), an excitotoxic amino acid of greater potency

Beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) and beta-N-oxalylamino-L-alanine (BOAA) are chemically related amino acids present in the seeds of Cycas circinalis and Lathyrus sativus, respectively. Consumption of these seeds has been linked to Guam amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (BMAA) and lathyrism (BOAA; a

Exposure to cycad (Cycas micronesica K.D. Hill) toxins via diet has been shown to induce neurodegeneration in vivo that mimics the progressive neurological disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis--parkinsonism dementia complex (ALS--PDC). In previous studies, specific cortical and subcortical cell

Repeated dietary consumption of the neurotoxic amino acid beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), found in the seeds of Cycas circinalis, has been postulated as causing both amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and the parkinsonism-dementia syndrome (PD) that were formerly very prevalent among the

Controversial debates still remain around the nature of the etiologic agent responsible for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/Parkinson dementia complex (ALS/PDC) whose incidence is unusually high among the population of the pacific island of Guam. It has been hypothesized that the neurotoxin

A high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method is described for determining subpicomole concentrations of beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) in plant and animal tissue. BMAA and other amino acids were reacted with 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate (FMOC) for 10 min under alkaline conditions

Seeds of the Guam cycad Cycas micronesica K.D. Hill (Cycadaceae), which contain ss-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), have been implicated in the etiology of the devastating neurodisease ALS-PDC that is found among the native Chamorros on Guam. The disease also occurs in the native populations on Irian

We here report biomagnification (the increasing accumulation of bioactive, often deleterious molecules through higher trophic levels of a food chain) of the neurotoxic nonprotein amino acid beta-methylamino-l-alanine (BMAA) in the Guam ecosystem. Free-living cyanobacteria produce 0.3 microg/g BMAA,