Preventing Neurons From Dying

A good deal of hype in this LEF News reprint, but it sounds like they have something worthy of further research and development: "The studies show how a naturally occurring protein called KDI tri-peptide (KDI) can serve as a defense mechanism to prevent brain damage normally caused by Parkinson disease. They also demonstrate KDI's potential to treat ALS as well as stroke ... The second study looked at humans and mice with ALS, a devastating neurological disease that causes neurons in the brain and spinal cord to die ... It appears that the body tries to protect itself by producing KDI, but in most cases it is not able to produce enough KDI on its own to stop the damage. ... the brain reacts to stroke damage by naturally producing KDI in the healthy tissue surrounding the seriously damaged brain areas. ... We are currently testing KDI's ability to prevent stroke damage, and based on our results so far I feel very optimistic."

Link: http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=3049&Section=AGING