Neurochemistry

Dr. B.K. Bhachhawat started the Neurochemistry Laboratory in 1957 and within a few years established a school of research recognized by several Universities in India for graduate studies leading to the PhD degree.

His group demonstrated all the major pathways of amino sugar metabolism, glycogen synthesis and sulphate metabolism in the CNS. The first twenty years of the laboratory witnessed three significant landmarks. One was the identification of arylsulphatase deficiency in the genetic disorder of metachromatic leukodystrophy, in collaboration with Dr. James Austen of the University of Oregon. This discovery led to the larger concept of lysosomal storage diseases. The second was the isolation of plant lectins and their use in glycoprotein purification. Yet another area was the start of liposome technology in India.

In 1976 Dr. A.S. Balasubramaniam took on the leadership of the laboratory and continued to work on molecular regulation. In the 1980s the regulating mechanisms of phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of the mannose 6 phosphate receptor in the brain were elucidated. Dr. Balasubramaniam and his group further went on to explore the cholinesterases and demonstrated their association with the non-cholinergic activities of aryl acyl amidase and peptidase. These non-cholinergic properties are now being considered in neurodifferentiation, tumorignensis and in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. Studies on the cholinesterases continue in the laboratory with emphasis on organophosphate poisoning, a major health hazard in India. There is also considerable interest in the opioids and their receptors.

Dr. Anna Oommen obtained her Ph.D from the Christian Medical College, Vellore in 1979. She was a post doctoral fellow in structural biology at the Biozentrum, University of Basel for 2 years before joining the Faculty of the Department in 1983. Her research interests include membrane biochemistry, the cholinesterases and CNS infections.

Approximately two thousand seven hundred diagnostic tests were carried out in the Clinical Neurochemistry section covering serum / urine amino acids and homocysteine (HPLC), urinary organic acids (Gas Chromatography), urinary orotic acid, serum antibodies for cysticercus antibodies, muscle immunoblots for dysferlin / calpain, oligoclonal banding, blood /urine arylsulphatase A & B, and hexosaminidase A & B and urinary mucopolysaccharides. During 2011 serum biotinidase was introduced as a diagnostic test.