The purpose of this research is to determine if caffeine alleviates the symptoms of Parkinson Disease patients by reducing the amount of Tau and Alpha Synuclein proteins.
Variables:
Independent: Regular diet vs. diet with caffeine added. Regular fly vs fly with PD. Dependent: Levels of Tau and Alpha Synuclein proteins.
Hypothesis and Rationale: If an organism has a diet containing caffeine, they will have a normal amount of Tau proteins and Lewy Bodies. This is because caffeine protects against the loss of dopamine, therefore it would be able to reduce the amount of the harmful proteins which directly cause the oxidation of dopamine.
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Background Research:
Parkinson's Disease: This is a neurodegenerative disease whose cause is unknown but is identified by the loss of dopamine producing neurons that are located in the substantia nigra. Symptoms include tremors and difficulty speaking.
Alpha Synuclein: Alpha Synuclein is the most abundant protein present in Lewy Bodies which are the markers of Parkinson’s Disease. Lewy Bodies are denatured because the hydrophobic portions face the liquid surroundings creating a porous membrane allowing dopamine leakage.
Tau Proteins: These proteins are common in the brain of people with neurodegenerative diseases. They destabilize the axons of nerves and disrupt the function of RNA, proving to be detrimental to communication of cells.
Caffeine: Previous studies have proven that people who regularly consume caffeine are 30% less likely to develop Parkinson’s. This is because caffeine helps preserve dopamine in the brain for a longer amount of time.
Data Analysis:Tau proteins are not present in healthy flies but do exist in flies with PD. The caffeine slightly decreases the concentration of the Tau proteins in the PD flies. Alpha Synuclein proteins are present at a very low concentration in healthy flies but once caffeine is introduced to their diet, the concentration significantly increases. It also increases for the flies with PD but at a lower rate.
Experimental Error: Human error could have occured in the duration of conducting the ELISA testing causing the outlying data in the standard curve for Alpha Synuclein.
Conclusion: This leads to the conclusion that caffeine is not helpful in reducing Alpha Synuclein but it is helpful in reducing Tau proteins, causing it to be unable to inhibit the loss of dopamine but help decrease the disruption of cell communication. Therefore, caffeine may be able to reduce the risk of developing PD but it is not effective in decreasing the occurence of symptoms for patients with PD.
