Scientists discover an enzyme that can stop brain activity from getting out of control
Our brains are filled with a variety of unsung chemical heroes, making sure that the electrical signals traveling everywhere don’t get out of control.
A new mouse study has now detailed the function of a pair of proteins critical to maintaining this balance – which could help us better understand many neurological disorders, from epilepsy to schizophrenia.
Two proteins – Rab3-interacting molecule 1 (RIM1) and an enzyme called serine arginine protein kinase 2 (SRPK2) – work together to modify the transmission of information in the gaps between nerves called synapses.
Without their efficient policing of neural activity, messages can either be lost due to insufficient signal, or flood critical junctions, overwhelming critical networks and burying important signals in the throes of noise.
Using neurons from specially prepared laboratory mice, researchers in Germany and Australia have now described in detail the precise chemical interaction between the two proteins, which not only helps us better understand specific brain functioning Rather, it may one day provide therapeutic targets for conditions where this process takes place. ugly.
Synapses can be thought of in your brain as transportation terminals connecting passengers to various services. Some services leave the moment a handful of passengers arrive; Others wait until they are struck by a crowd of passengers.
Like any efficient public transport system, this flow of passengers needs guidance about when to wait and when to board. That’s where RIM1 comes in.
Instead of passengers waiting at the station, neurons consist of tiny bubbles filled with transmitters perched on release at synapses, ready to be released when a suitable signal arrives.
“However, the amount of neurotransmitters released by the presynapse and the extent to which the postsynapse responds to it are strictly regulated in the brain,” says neurologist Schoch McGovern from the University Hospital Bonn, Germany.
Everything we know about this regulation is based on relatively simple organisms. It was from studying the larvae of fruit flies, for example, that the researchers noted the activity of RIM1.
It’s likely that more complex animals will have different mechanisms that help their brains heal, so the researchers analyzed the mechanism of a protein extracted from mouse brains to see how it operates.
They found that the enzyme SRPK2 modifies RIM1 by binding to molecules with phosphate groups at specific links in its amino-acid structure, which increases or decreases the number of neurotransmitter bubbles released at the synapse.
“Which effect depends on the phosphorylated amino acid,” says Johannes Alexander Müller, a neurophysiologist at the University Hospital Bonn.
What happens to the phosphorylated RIM1 protein after it has completed its job is unclear, leaving room for a range of other enzymes to do the work, further fine-tuning the process.
As with any biological function, it can be as simple as knowing what happens when it doesn’t all go according to plan. There are already genetic indications that RIM1 may be involved in conditions such as autism and schizophrenia.
“Now we want to make these relationships more clear,” says McGovern.
“Perhaps new therapeutic options for these diseases will emerge from our findings in the long term, although there is certainly a long way to go before that happens.”
Source: nationworldnews.com
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Scientists discover an enzyme that can stop brain activity from getting out of control