If your doctor doesn't understand how your brain was wired up in the first place how do you think s/he will be able to direct your rewiring after your stroke?
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How neurons are created and integrate with each other is one of
biology’s greatest riddles. Researcher Dietmar Schmucker from VIB-KU
Leuven unravels a part of the mystery in Science magazine. He describes
a mechanism that explains novel aspects of how the wiring of highly
branched neurons in the brain works. These new insights into how
complex neural networks are formed are very important for understanding
and treating neurological diseases.
Neurons, or nerve cells
It
is estimated that a person has 100 billion neurons, or nerve cells.
These neurons have thin, elongated, highly branched offshoots called
dendrites and axons. They are the body’s information and signal
processors. The dendrites receive electrical impulses from the other
neurons and conduct these to the cell body. The cell body then decides
whether stimuli will or will not be transferred to other cells via the
axon.
The brain’s wiring is very complex. Although the molecular
mechanisms that explain the linear connection between neurons have
already been described numerous times, little is as yet known about how
the branched wiring works in the brain.
The connections between nerve cells
Prior
research by Dietmar Schmucker and his team lead to the identification
of the Dscam1 protein in the fruit fly. The neuron can create many
different protein variations, or isoforms, from this same protein. The
specific set of isoforms that occurs on a neuron’s cell surface
determines the neuron’s unique molecular identity and plays an
important role in the establishment of accurate connections. In other
words, it describes why certain neurons either come into contact with
each other or reject each other.
Recent work by Haihuai H and
Yoshiaki Kise from Dietmar’s team indicates that different sets of
Dscam1 isoforms occur inside one axon, between the newly formed
offshoots amongst each other. If this was not the case, then only
linear connections could come about between neurons. These results
indicate for the first time the significance of why different sets of
the same protein variations can occur in one neuron and it could
explain mechanistically how this contributes to the complex wiring in
our brain.
Clinical impact
Although this research was done
with fruit flies, it also provides new insights that help explain the
wiring and complex interactions of the human brain and shine a new light
on neurological development disorders such as autism. Thorough
knowledge of nerve cell creation and their neural interactions is
considered essential knowledge for the future possibility of using stem
cell therapy as standard treatment for certain nervous system
disorders.
Questions
Given that this research can raise many
questions, we would like to refer your questions in your report or
article to the email address that the VIB has made available for this
purpose. All questions regarding this and other medical research can be
directed to: patients@vib.be.
Relevant scientific publication
The
above-mentioned research was published in the prominent magazine
Science (Haihuai and Yoshiaki et al., Cell-Intrinsic Requirement of
Dscam1 Isoform Diversity for Axon Collateral Formation).
10.1126/science.1251852.
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