摘要：由美国国立卫生研究院提供研究经费支持，研究人员发现将简单的面包酵母转化为大批的医学药剂师，它们能够迅速寻找治疗帕金森综合症的药物。 

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have turned simple baker\'s yeast into a virtual army of medicinal chemists capable of rapidly searching for drugs to treat Parkinson\'s diseas 

博川报道：今天网上《自然化学生物》公布一份研究报告表明，通过刺激细胞使之产生非常小的蛋白环肽，可以将帕金森综合症酵母细胞从毒性蛋白质水平拯救出来。Two of the cyclic peptides had a protective effect on the yeast cells and on neurons in an animal model of Parkinson\'s disease.两种环肽有保护酵母细胞的作用，同时对帕金森综合症动物模型的神经细胞也有保护作用。In a study published online today in Nature Chemical Biology, the researchers showed that they can rescue yeast cells from toxic levels of a protein implicated in Parkinson\'s disease by stimulating the cells to make very small proteins called cyclic peptid 

"This biological approach to compound development opens up an entirely new direction for drug discovery, not only for Parkinson\'s disease, but theoretically for any disease where key aspects of the pathology can be reproduced in yeast," says Margaret Sutherland, Ph.D., a program director at NIH\'s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIN“从理论上来说，这种生物方法，不仅对帕金森综合症，而且对于任何关键病理可以在酵母中复制的疾病来说，开辟了药物发现的一个新方向”，玛格丽特萨瑟兰德博士说，她是NIH和NINDS的策划主任。“未来一个关键步骤的是弄清楚影响这些环肽的细胞学途径。”

博川推荐原文检索：Novel Drug Discovery Tool Could Identify Promising New Therapies for Parkinson Disease 

【Abstract】

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have turned simple baker yeast into a virtual army of medicinal chemists capable of rapidly searching for drugs to treat Parkinson disease.

In a study published online today in Nature Chemical Biology, the researchers showed that they can rescue yeast cells from toxic levels of a protein implicated in Parkinson disease by stimulating the cells to make very small proteins called cyclic peptides. Two of the cyclic peptides had a protective effect on the yeast cells and on neurons in an animal model of Parkinson disease.

"This biological approach to compound development opens up an entirely new direction for drug discovery, not only for Parkinson disease, but theoretically for any disease where key aspects of the pathology can be reproduced in yeast," says Margaret Sutherland, Ph.D., a program director at NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). "A key step for the future will be to identify the cellular pathways that are affected by these cyclic peptides."

原文链接"A key step for the future will be to identify the cellular pathways that are affected by these cyclic peptide原:http://www.nih.gov/news/health/jul2009/ninds-13.htm