Brain pathways linked to autism, cerebral palsy revealed
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New Delhi, Aug 14 (IANS) Researchers have discovered a brain pathway that activates dormant neural stem cells, offering a promising avenue for treating brain disorders such as autism, learning disabilities and cerebral palsy.
The research team from Duke-NUS Medical School nd the Mechanobiology Institute (MBI) at the National University of Singapore found that in the adult mammal brain, most neural stem cells lie dormant until a specific signal triggers them to activate.
Once activated, these cells produce new neurons, helping the brain repair and grow. Faults in the activation process have been linked to cognitive decline caused by ageing, as well as neurodevelopmental disorders such as microcephaly.
Globally, neurodevelopmental disorders affect about 5% of children and adolescents, impairing their cognition, communication and motor skills.
To explore this activation process, the researchers studied fruit flies. As in mammals, the neural stem cells of fruit flies lie dormant until they are awakened.
Their findings suggest that astrocytes, traditionally viewed as glial cells with a supportive role, play a crucial role in reactivating dormant neural stem cells in the fruit fly brain.
The research team used super-resolution microscopy at 10 times magnification to examine the fine fibril structures that are unique to dormant neural stem cells in fruit flies.
These protrusions are about 1.5 microns in diameter (20 times smaller than a human hair) and are rich in actin filaments assembled from a specific type of formin protein. Changes in formin levels have been linked to neurodevelopmental disorders such as microcephaly, making this pathway a focus of research.
The researchers found that astrocytes release a signaling protein called folded gastrulation (Fog), which triggers a chain reaction that activates the formin protein pathway, controls actin filament movement and reactivates neural stem cells.
GPCR receptors in neural stem cells respond to Fog to trigger this process. GPCR proteins are critical in many cellular processes and are the main targets of FDA-approved drugs, accounting for 34% of all approved therapeutic drugs.
Professor Hongyan Wang, senior author of the study, emphasized that this discovery expands people's understanding of the mechanism of neural stem cell reactivation. The discovery that astrocytes are key players in this process opens up new possibilities for influencing neural stem cell behavior.
The research team plans to investigate other signals from astrocytes that could influence neural stem cell activity and explore similar mechanisms in human brain development.