PHARMACEUTICAL COMPOSITIONS COMPRISING NEUROTROPIC FACTORS FOR TREATING AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS,PARKINSON DISEASE AND ALZHEIMER DISEASE AND METHODS FOR DIAGNOSING THESE DISEASES

摘要

The present invention is based on the discovery that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson disease and Alzheimer disease are due to lack of a disorder-specific neurotrophic hormone. Diagnosis may be accomplished by assaying hormones specific for a particular neuronal network or system: the motor neurotrophic hormones from muscle in the motor neural system may be used to diagnose and treat ALS, dopamine neurotrophic hormones from striatum in the nigrostriatal neural system may be used to diagnose and treat parkinsonism, and cholinergic neurotrophic hormones released from the cortex and hippocampus which are specific for cholinergic neurons of the nucleus basalis and septal nucleus may be used to diagnose and treat Alzheimer's disease. With tissue culture, the presence or absence of specific neurotrophic hormones can be assessed in ALS, parkinsonism, and Alzheimer disease, to see if there is a deficiency. The invention provides extracted and purified neurotrophic hormones specific to the particular neuronal network or system, to be injected in ALS and Alzheimer disease and in parkinsonism.