By Nigel Maxwell

Ag research

U of S Research team believes compound found in ethanol waste could help cure Alzheimer’s

Feb 6, 2019 | 12:31 PM

Members of a research team at the University of Saskatchewan believe they can slow the progression of Alzheimers’s disease with a compound found in ethanol waste.

Glyceryl phosphoryl choline (GPC) helps the body increase production of acetylcholine, the basic neurotransmitter that signals messages to cells and plays an important role in mental processes such as memory and cognition. GPC has also shown positive effects on athletic performance and recovery from heart attack and stroke. Dr. Martin Reaney, a USask professor in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, said their discovery was quite unexpected

“We had a student who was actually trying to use the water leftover from an ethanol plant to extract protein and we found something interesting in the water,” he said.

The approach to slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s involves feeding the brain GPC and other brain-enhancing compounds. Reaney was awarded an Engage Grant by the federal agency NSERC for a collaborative project with a Saskatoon company to scale up production and refine the stillage GPC to a clinical-quality product. Reaney said he thinks the next phase should move quickly given that the compound was already approved through clinical trials.

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“We actually make the same compound and it is in our brain,” he said. “So it’s not toxic at just about any level. As far as we know it’s not toxic at all.”

Reaney’s team is working with North West Terminals Ltd. in Unity, Pound-Maker Agventures in Lanigan, and Terra Grain Fuels in Belle Plaine, Sask. The group is researching the use of stillage to produce concentrated protein for use in animal feed and products such as GPC and 1,3-PD. Reaney said he believes his team’s research could have wide applications, adding he foresees their work moving in two directions.

“One is supporting the ethanol industry and keeping it strong, helping them balance their balance sheet, and at the same time being able to treat possibly millions of people with Alzheimers,” he said.

According to the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada, more than half a million Canadians are living with dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. In less than 15 years, that number is expected to double to almost one million.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell