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Anti-dandruff compound may help seizures
And a toenail fungus treatment may help with cancers;
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Anti-dandruff compound may help seizures
BALTIMORE, April 27 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say a compound in dandruff shampoo may help in the treatment of epileptic seizures.
The Johns Hopkins University study, published online in Nature Chemical Biology, found that zinc pyrithione -- the active ingredient in many dandruff shampoos -- may calm overexcited nerve cells in the brain.
Min Li, professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins, said bathing cells with small amounts of zinc pyrithione -- ZnPy -- caused mutant potassium channels to let three times as much potassium flow through. This raised the possibility of restoring normal nerve cell activity, the university said Friday in a release.
"Most drug discoveries uncover chemicals that stop things from working -- it's a lot easier to close or block a door than open it," said Min. "But here we found a chemical that makes a defective protein work better."
The Johns Hopkins University study, published online in Nature Chemical Biology, found that zinc pyrithione -- the active ingredient in many dandruff shampoos -- may calm overexcited nerve cells in the brain.
Min Li, professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins, said bathing cells with small amounts of zinc pyrithione -- ZnPy -- caused mutant potassium channels to let three times as much potassium flow through. This raised the possibility of restoring normal nerve cell activity, the university said Friday in a release.
"Most drug discoveries uncover chemicals that stop things from working -- it's a lot easier to close or block a door than open it," said Min. "But here we found a chemical that makes a defective protein work better."
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Toenail fungus medicine may treat cancer
BALTIMORE, April 27 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say itraconazole, a drug commonly used to treat toenail fungus, can also block the growth of new blood vessels in cancer.
The study by Johns Hopkins University found that mice treated with itraconazole had 67 percent reduced blood vessel growth.
"We were surprised, to say the least, that itraconazole popped up as a potential blocker of angiogenesis," pharmacology professor Jun O. Liu said Friday in a release. "We couldn't have predicted that an anti-fungal drug would have such a role."
The study appears online in ACS Chemical Biology.
"Our screening test did show that cholesterol-lowering statins also appear to stop blood vessel growth," Jun said, "so there is likely some important connection between cholesterol and angiogenesis."
BALTIMORE, April 27 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say itraconazole, a drug commonly used to treat toenail fungus, can also block the growth of new blood vessels in cancer.
The study by Johns Hopkins University found that mice treated with itraconazole had 67 percent reduced blood vessel growth.
"We were surprised, to say the least, that itraconazole popped up as a potential blocker of angiogenesis," pharmacology professor Jun O. Liu said Friday in a release. "We couldn't have predicted that an anti-fungal drug would have such a role."
The study appears online in ACS Chemical Biology.
"Our screening test did show that cholesterol-lowering statins also appear to stop blood vessel growth," Jun said, "so there is likely some important connection between cholesterol and angiogenesis."
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