NEWS OF THE WEEK GOVERNMENT
&
POLICY
CONGRESS RETURNS Larger Republican majority faces many of last year's problems
T
HE IO9TH CONGRESS CON-
vened last week to immedi ately face difficult work on budget deficits, Social Security re form, and the war in Iraq. Despite this full agenda, other legislative tasks also need to be completed. Because of the election last year, lawmakers delayed a num ber of controversial bills. Those high-profile issues include air pol lution legislation, tort reform, and a national energy policy Legisla tion on all three issues will be in troduced soon. Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate En vironment & Public Works Com
Inhofe
DRUG
mittee, has said he is ready to move on the Administration's Clear Skies Initiative for reduc ing emissions of several air pollu tants. The legislation would not control carbon dioxide, an issue important to many environmen tal groups. In the House, Rep. Joe L. Bar ton (R-Texas), new chairman of the Energy & Commerce Com mittee, has said he wants to move on clean air legislation, too. Barton also is leading House action on an energy bill, while in the Senate, Sen. Pete V Domenici (R-N.M.) is the lead player. Domenici plans to introduce a
DISCOVERY
ANTIBIOTICS PROTECT NEURONS β-Lactams slow neurological disease by reducing excess levels of glutamate
β
-LACTAM ANTIBIOTICS
Ap
parently have more going for them than their ability to kill bacteria. These drugs could potentially serve as the basis for treatments for neurological dis-
H2N^\
CH,
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YS
Ceftriaxone
orders including amyotrophic lat eral sclerosis (ALS)—also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. 8
C&EN
/ JANUARY
1 0,
2005
Researchers uncovered this ad ditional capacity of β-lactam an tibiotics while screening 1,040 FDA-approved drugs for addi tional uses. Jeffrey D. Rothstein, a neurologist who heads the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins Uni versity, and colleagues were look ing for compounds that could boost production of the gluta mate transporter GLT1. Glutamate is an excitatory neu rotransmitter released by neurons to pass electrical signals to other neurons. Although glutamate is necessary for proper signaling, it's not a benign messenger. If too much glutamate accumulates in the synapses between neurons,
new energy bill this year, focus ing on boosting U.S. energy pro duction and improving electrici ty reliability A fight is expected over oil drilling on the Arctic Na tional Wildlife Refuge, but the stronger Republican majority in the Senate might pass the mea sure this year. In the health arena, Congress will be reviewing questions about FDA's oversight of drug safety, consumer importing of prescrip tion drugs, and reform of the nation's Medicare system. In ad dition, NIH's budget is up for reauthorization this year. Republicans also are interest ed in passing tort reform legisla tion, including limiting medical malpractice awards and shifting class-action lawsuits from state courts to federal courts. Estab lishing a fund to pay asbestos vic tims in lieu of court trials is also a priority-DAVID HANSON
the excess neurotransmitter can overstimulate and kill off these cells, contributing to conditions such as ALS. To stave off such damage, oth er neural cells known as astroglia sop up the excess glutamate. Glu tamate is drawn into those cells through the transporter protein GLT1, which is embedded in the astroglial cell membrane. Once glutamate is sequestered inside the astroglia, the neurotransmit ter is unable to harm neurons. When Rothstein and his col leagues screened the FDA-ap proved drugs, they found that βlactam antibiotics and some of their derivatives produced a neu roprotective effect by tripling ex pression of GLT1 [Nature, 433, 73 (2005)}· In mice that served as a model for ALS, treatment with the β-lactam ceftriaxone slowed progression of the disease. Rothstein says his team's work demonstrates "for the first time that drugs, not just genetic en gineering, can increase numbers of specific transporters in brain cells."—SOPHIE ROVNER HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
