A team of researchers from the Department of Biochemistry and the California Institute of Technology have published a paper in Nature (10 November) that brings scientists closer to understanding the way messages are passed around the brain. The research will have implications in the treatment of illnesses as far ranging as alcoholism and Alzheimers disease.
A team of researchers from the Department of Biochemistry and the California Institute of Technology have published a paper in Nature (10 November) that brings scientists closer to understanding the way messages are passed around the brain. The research will have implications in the treatment of illnesses as far ranging as alcoholism and Alzheimers disease.
The research is looking at the 5-HT3 receptor, a member of a family of proteins which are found in the brain, and are the molecules of memory, learning, and thinking. They are the targets of drugs used to treat many disorders including Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease, schizophrenia, learning and attention deficits. The 5-HT3 receptor has a number of roles, one of which is in the way the brain responds to alcohol - blocking 5-HT3 receptors in human alcoholics reduces their drinking and causes them to enjoy alcohol less. There is also potential for the development of drugs that act at these receptors as a new way to treat Alzheimers disease, and to control addiction to drugs of abuse.
The team, headed by Dr Sarah Lummis in Cambridge and Professor Dennis Dougherty at CalTech, researches how the proteins work at the molecular level, to better understand what has gone wrong when they malfunction, and how drugs work on these proteins. The initial work could be relevant to many brain proteins, and could help have much more wide ranging implications for the treatment of diseases originating in the brain.
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