Mechanism of brain development decoded

Protein control loop crucial for the development of the brain

06/12/2011

While the functions of the various brain areas are already relatively well-researched today, little is known about the development of the brain or the relevant factors to this day. Swedish and German researchers have now identified a previously unknown mechanism that plays a key role in the embryonic development of the human brain.

The scientists around Dr. Christopher Horst Lillig from the University of Greifswald and dr. Carsten Berndt from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm discovered a previously unknown control loop in the brain that is crucial for the development of structures in the human brain. On the basis of current findings, new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of various neurological diseases may be derived in the future. Lillig and dr. Berndt in the current issue of the trade journal „Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences“ (PNAS). According to the researchers, the discovered protein regulatory loop may also play a significant role in causing diseases such as epilepsy and Alzheimer's.

Development of brain structures dependent on glutaredoxin-2?
About the formation of structures in the brain is so far relatively unknown. Which factors influence the development of the approximately 100 billion nerve cells of the brain and their connection to each other (each nerve cell is linked on average with 1,000 others), was therefore the focus of current research by Dr. med. Lillig and colleagues. is. They wanted to find out what factors, signals and regulatory mechanisms determine the formation of structures in the brain. To this end, the scientists examined in a model experiment, the development of brain structures in zebrafish. Since they suspected a significant influence of the protein glutaredoxin-2 on the development of the brain, the researchers analyzed Dr. Lillig and dr. Berndt as part of her study, what effect a withdrawal of the protein has on the development of the brain of zebrafish. The zebrafish are, according to the scientists, particularly well as an example organism for the formation of structures in the human brain.

Protein control loop has a significant influence on the development of the brain
Dr. Lillig and dr. Berndt explain in the current PNAS article that the protein glutaredoxin-2 is used to alter the amino acid cysteine ​​and thus influences other proteins that are needed to form so-called axons in the brain. Axons are the fibrous extensions of the nerve cell, which are needed to connect the nerve cells (synapses) with each other. Only when this connection works, the required stimulus transmission and communication between the different areas of the brain and the muscle cells is guaranteed, explain the scientists in the journal PNAS. Without the formation of the axons, the complex network between the nerve cells in the human brain can not be built, Dr. Lillig and dr. Berndt. At this point, the protein glutaredoxin-2 apparently has a significant importance, because in the zebrafish without the protein, the linkages could not be formed and the developing nerve cells died as a result of the lack of linkage. Thus, the significant importance of the newly discovered control circuit for the development of the brain is clearly demonstrated, stressed the Swedish-German research team.

Possible effects of the protein regulatory loop on neurological disorders
In a next step, it will now be checked whether the discovered control loop possibly also has an influence on the development of neurological diseases such as dementia or Alzheimer's or epilepsy. Because in Dr.'s opinion Berndt and dr. Lillig suggests that the proteins needed to form the axons may also play a significant role in such neurological diseases. In any case, however, it is now clear for the first time that embryonic development of the brain depends on the enzymatic activity of glutaredoxin-2. Without „Glutaredoxin-2 lost virtually all types of neurons the ability to develop an axonal scaffold“, so the statement of the researchers. In addition to the scientists from the University of Greifswald and the Karolinska Institute Stockholm, researchers from the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf and the Philipps University in Marburg were involved in the current study. (Fp)

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Image: Dieter Schütz