Conicet researchers discover a molecule that opens a way to fight Parkinson’s disease

A group of Conicet researchers from Tucumán demonstrated in vitro studies that an antibiotic derivative, demeclocycline tetracycline (DMC), has protective effects on neurons affected in Parkinson’s disease.

It is a molecule developed between the Institute for Research in Applied Molecular and Cellular Medicine (IMMCA, Conicet-UNT-Siprosa), based in Tucumán, and the Brain Institute of Paris (France), whose research was recently published in the prestigious journal Cells.

“We knew that there are some tetracyclines that have neuroprotective capabilities, which would serve a potential use for both Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, which are the two diseases we are investigating,” explained Rodrigo Tomas-Grau, co-author of the study.

Tomas-Grau explained that “the problem is that diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s are chronic and progressive diseases, so you cannot medicate with antibiotics for life because it would lead to another problem, which would be resistance to those antibiotics”.