A team led by researchers at the University of Georgia screened compounds for the ability to treat familial dysautonomia (FD), a rare genetic disorder, and came up with a hit: genipin, a chemical isolated from an American tropical tree, Genipa americana.
Pregnant mice with FD treated with genipin produced embryos with more sensory nerves than untreated mice and gave birth to pups that responded more frequently to being touched. The results were published in Science Translational Medicine on Nov. 20.
Genipin also sped up the regeneration of broken nerve axons in human stem cells, suggesting it could also have use in other conditions that cause nerve degeneration in the central or peripheral nervous systems.
FD is caused by mutations in the ELP1 gene, which makes elongator protein complex 1. ELP1 is important for nerve cells to grow and develop, and, when it is disrupted, an individual's sensory and autonomic nerves degenerate throughout life. This leads to a range of symptoms including an inability to feel pain, an inability to make tears and trouble eating and swallowing, among others. The disease currently has no cure.
The condition is most common among people of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, but rare cases have been found in people from other ethnic backgrounds as well.
Genipin is also found in cape jasmine, a plant that is used in Chinese traditional medicine.