If our fucking failures of stroke associations actually did anything, asking foundations or billionaires to support research on the sonic hedgehog pathway would be so easy. Wouldn't you like to be able to promote yourself that you funded the research that solved the sonic hedgehog pathway in helping stroke survivors? But this won't occur because we have NO stroke leadership or strategy.
FUCKING HEY!
http://neurosciencenews.com/astrocytes-glia-neuroscience-3690/
A research
team, led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health
Centre (RI-MUHC) in Montreal, has broken new ground in our understanding
of the complex functioning of the brain. The research, published in the
current issue of the journal Science, demonstrates that brain
cells, known as astrocytes, which play fundamental roles in nearly all
aspects of brain function, can be adjusted by neurons in response to
injury and disease. The discovery, which shows that the brain has a far
greater ability to adapt and respond to changes than previously
believed, could have significant implications on epilepsy, movement
disorders, and psychiatric and neurodegenerative disease.
Astrocytes are star-shaped cells in our brain that surround brain
neurons, and neural circuits, protecting them from injury and enabling
them to function properly – in essence, one of their main roles is to
‘baby-sit’ neurons. Our brain contains billions of cells, each of which
need to communicate between each other in order to function properly.
This communication is highly dependent on the behaviour of astrocytes.
Until now, the mechanisms that create and maintain differences among
astrocytes, and allow them to fulfill specialized roles, has remained
poorly understood.
Bergmann
glia (green) are specialized astrocytes that support Purkinje neurons
(red) and their circuits. Purkinje neurons release a protein called
Sonic Hedgehog to instruct Bergmann glia to take on their characteristic
molecular and physiological properties. Loss of Bergmann glia support
leads to dysfunction of Purkinje neurons and their circuits. Credit:
Todd Farmer, McGill University Health Centre.
“It was believed that astrocytes acquired their properties during the
development of the brain and then they were hardwired in their roles,”
says senior study’s author Dr. Keith Murai, director of the Centre for
Research in Neuroscience at the RI-MUHC, associate professor of the
Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University. “We have
now discovered that astrocytes are actually incredibly flexible and
potentially modifiable, which enables them to improve brain function or
restore lost potential caused by disease.”
The researchers discovered that there is a little dial-like mechanism
on astrocytes that enables neurons to adjust astrocytes to ensure they
provide the right kind of support. “
This ‘dial’ is likely used to tune
the astrocyte’s response in the normal brain but also in different
diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s,
or injuries such as stroke and
trauma, for example,” explains Dr. Todd Farmer, the study’s first
author and a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Murai’s laboratory at the
Montreal General Hospital of the MUHC. “Our findings help us to better
understand the complexity of the brain and also grasp mechanisms that
can be used to reduce brain injury and disease.”
Researchers conducted most of their experiments on mouse models and
studied a specific pathway called the Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) signaling
pathway, which is well known in brain development and cancer. By using a
combination of advanced genetics, molecular approaches, and microscopy
techniques, they found that this signaling pathway is used in the adult
brain in a completely novel way. The SHH pathway was found to induce
disparate changes in astrocytes in different brain regions.
“This is an extraordinary mechanism in the healthy, mature brain that
creates diversity of brain cells,” says Dr. Murai. “Now, our goal is to
see how this mechanism is affected in different brain diseases and
determine if it can be harnessed to protect neurons and ultimately
preserve brain function.”
“Dr. Murai and his
team have made a remarkable discovery that will advance our
understanding of fundamental mechanisms that play a role in brain
disease,” says Inez Jabalpurwala, president and CEO of Brain Canada
Foundation. “We are pleased to support this kind of transformative
research which will ultimately lead to improved health outcomes.”
“This exciting discovery by Dr. Murai and his team has the potential
to impact the understanding of and ultimately future treatments for a
number of neurodegenerative diseases,” said Alexandra Stewart, executive
director of the Weston Brain Institute. “The Institute was established
in an effort to further support these types of breakthroughs. Over the
past years, we have been an enthusiastic partner with Dr. Murai and
congratulate him and his team on their incredible work.”
About this neuroscience research
Funding: This work was funded by the Canadian
Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Brain Canada Foundation and
the Weston Brain Institute.
Source: Julie Robert –
McGill University Health Center
Image Source: The images are credited to Todd Farmer, McGill University Health Centre.
Original Research: Abstract
for “Neurons Diversify Astrocytes in the Adult Brain Through Sonic
Hedgehog Signaling” by W. Todd Farmer, Therése Abrahamsson, Sabrina
Chierzi, Christopher Lui, Cristian Zaelzer, Emma V. Jones, Blandine
Ponroy Bally, Gary G. Chen, Jean-Francois Théroux, Jimmy Peng, Charles
W. Bourque, Frédéric Charron, Carl Ernst, P. Jesper Sjöström, and Keith
K. Murai in
Science. Published online February 18 2016 doi:10.1126/science.aab3103
