A mathematical model can help create drugs degenerative diseases

Researchers in Portugal have developed a mathematical model that can become instrumental in the development of new drugs against degenerative diseases. Team of scientists from the Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar (ICBAS) and the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto (FEUP) developed a biophysical model that allows us to understand the formation of amyloid fibrils, or aggregates of proteins that deposit in and tissues that are associated with the development of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Amyloidosis, also known as Disease Pezinhos.

The development of drugs for the treatment of these diseases can be based on measuring the speeds (and kinetics) for the formation of these fibers in the laboratory, under conditions similar to those that occur in vivo. The mathematical model developed is able to objectively describe the sequence of events involved in fibrilização and how this process is affected by the action of potential drugs.

"We were able to describe all the steps through a simple mathematical model and universal, whose use is facilitated by the reduced number of parameters involved," explains the researcher involved in the study Peter Martins. "This type of model is very important in understanding various phenomena and especially for the development of new drugs. This is a tool that provides and describes what happens in the case of formation of amyloid fibrils in the presence or absence of inhibitors, "concludes

Log in the study "A generic Crystallization-Like Model that describes the kinetics of amyloid fibril formation"

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