Animal saliva may aid in therapy

Scientists in southern China have used animal saliva to produce a protein that could aid in the development of therapeutic drugs for neurological diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

A research team led by Wu Zhenfang, a professor of animal science specializing in molecular genetics and breeding at South China Agricultural University, used the salivary glands of transgenic mice as bioreactors to produce nerve growth factor, which regulates neurons in the brain and spinal cord.

The team's findings were published late last month in Scientific Reports, an online journal published by Nature magazine.