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The Antigliadin-Synapsin Binding Experiment
I love this experiment. Seriously, I gasped, jumped up
and paced around my house frantically before I even finished reading it. And I
wrote to Dr. Alaedini and told him so. That's how geeky I am.
I want people to understand it because it's so simple and
elegant, and the results underly ALL the assertions I make in ALL my hypotheses.
Since most people aren't science nerds, here's my
summary/translation:
Hypothesis: |
There is evidence that
gluten intolerance causes neurological problems. Since gluten
antibodies bind to intestinal cells to produce the damage and
symptoms of celiac disease, they should bind to proteins in the
brain to produce behavioral effects.
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Materials: |
Some brain tissue and a
mixture of radioactively labeled gluten antibodies.
A lab full of high tech machines to analyze the
results.
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Method: |
Mix the antibodies with
the tissue, wait a while, wash off the excess and then look for
radioactive traces on the brain tissue.
Filter/separate the radiolabeled complexes and
analyze.
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Results:
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Only IgG antibodies
adhered to the brain tissue, Not IgA.
Not all the IgG antibodies adhered to the brain
tissue.
The binding site is a protein called synapsin
I.
They then looked for evidence in patients and
found antigliadin-synapsin complexes in their blood.
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Conclusion |
This experiment shows
that a subset of the IgG isotype gluten antibodies indeed bind to
proteins in the brain. This portion of the IgG antibodies bind to
the Synapsin I protein, and these complexes appear in human
patients. Evidence shows that Synapsin I is involved with
neurotransmitter transport so these results are consistent with and
provide a possible mechanism for neurological impairment caused by
gluten intolerance.
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Here's the links in case you're a dork and dying to read it now-
Immune cross-reactivity in celiac disease: anti-gliadin
antibodies bind to neuronal synapsin I.
Alaedini A, Okamoto H, Briani C, Wollenberg K, Shill HA,
Bushara KO, Sander HW, Green PH, Hallett M, Latov N.
J Immunol. 2007 May
15;178(10):6590-5.
PubMed
Free full text
For complete disclosure- these results are all I know
for sure about gluten mediated neurological dysfunction.
EVERYTHING else I
claim is extrapolation based on what I believe to be the natural consequences of
this one finding.
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