Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[falconer66a]

Receptors Sustained With Age, But Organelles Disconnect

Do the sigma-1 receptors diminish with age or does the occurrence of a CNS disease diminish them? Or maybe both.

My understanding (welcome correction, if wrong–please tell) is that cells retain functioning sigma-1 receptors at all ages. The reason so many central nervous system diseases strike with age (such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s) is that with time, certain organelles that are normally connected and function collaboratively get broken apart.

That’s where and why Anavex 2-73 works so well as effective treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Both (and many other CNS diseases) are known to involve mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondria are complex organelles that, among other things, house the electron transport system, a complex arrangement of structures and chemical reactions that delicately extract energy from glucose (or some other energy feedstocks), transferring it to adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is then shuffled off to other cell structures where the contained bond energy is released to power virtually all cellular processes. A car runs on gasoline. Cells (for the most part) run on ATP.

But in the case of geriatric CNS diseases, the ATP the mitochondria synthesize does not effectively or efficiently get transported off to the adjacent endoplasmic reticula, organelles that are normally in contact with mitochondria. With this contact, they receive ample ATP supplies, which power the essential functions of the endoplasmic reticula.

And one of those functions is to properly fold synthesized proteins into effective enzymes. If folded properly (which requires sufficient ATP), the folded proteins, enzymes, control and facilitate all of the normal chemical reactions of the cell. With properly folded enzymes, the cell works as it should. (Many toxins are lethal because they get into cells and disrupt normal protein folding. A mis-folded enzyme is exactly like a bent car key. It can’t open the door or start the engine.)

Again, Anavex 2-73 has the unique ability to re-connect dissembled endoplasmic reticula and mitochondria, so ATP exchange works; proteins (enzymes) are properly synthesized. Anavex 2-73 works because of the sigma-1 receptors, molecular binding sites on the two organelles. If they are retained into older age—as I believe they are—Anavex 2-73 is able to cause the two organelles to resume their adjacent connected state.

So (to answer the question), increase in CNS disease is not a loss of sigma-1 receptors with age; rather, it’s the “wearing out” of the cells themselves, where the two organelles break apart with age and no longer work collaboratively (factors other than age can cause this, too).

In effect, Anavex 2-73 is a cellular rejuvenation molecule, restoring the cell to a more functional, un-aged condition. It puts important things back together, so they can work normally.

(Yes, there is much more to all of this, but these are the core, essential phenomena.)