To much proteins in your brain is not good for you:
How proteins build up and poison the brain
The biology behind the clumped-up proteins in the brain thought to be hallmarks of ALS, Alzheimer’s, and other neurodegenerative diseases have long baffled scientists. Now, scientists have created a description of how those proteins clump up and shown that they are in fact toxic to the brain. Here’s what lead researcher Nikolay Dokholyan of UNC told me about the new research, to be published in PNAS.
What’s going on when proteins start clumping?
Proteins are like a thread with beads on it. Two beads can like each other and two beads can dislike each other, and, because of that, they organize into a very specific shape.
And what happens in these diseases when the proteins don’t take the right shape?
Something happens, and it unfolds. There can be two identical copies of the protein that like each other and hold hands, so to speak. And sometimes these twins, they break their connection. Each of them changes their shape into an alternative shape. Then they acquire another partner, but all of them are misshapen.
What role do those three-part, misshapen ‘trimers’ then play in the development of diseases like ALS and Alzheimer’s ?
We took those trimers and put them into motor neuron-like cells, and when we did, they would kill the cells rapidly. It’s not complete proof that that’s how disease works in organisms, because organisms are more complex than cells. But we know now that trimers are toxic, so now we can think of therapeutic strategies to target the trimers and break them apart.
Something to think about with a new year on its way.
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