The UMH-CSIC Institute of Neurosciences highlights twelve of the research or advances on the brain carried out in 2021: from a new way to tackle Alzheimer’s to delve into the mechanisms of memory.
With more than 30 working groups, this institute ensures that during 2021, the second year of the pandemic, brain research “has not stopped” and advances have been published in 90 scientific articles, twenty more than in the previous year.
The Institute of Neurosciences UMH-CSIC, based in Alicante, is currently the largest Spanish center dedicated entirely to neuroscience research.
Advances in the brain
These are twelve scientific breakthroughs most notable in 2021 within the research activity of the UMH-CSIC Institute of Neurosciences:
one. New pathway in the study of Alzheimer’s: A study points to a protein, LRP3, as a new therapeutic target since it could regulate amyloid beta levels and thus find new strategies in the investigation of aging and Alzheimer’s. The accumulation of beta amyloid in the brain is related to the appearance of this neurodegenerative disease.
Lead Researcher Immaculate Knife. Posted in “Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy.”
two.- The imprint left by the people we know in the brain: The call social memory, is due to the neuropeptide enkephalin, a neurotransmitter that allows us to recognize people we have seen before.
First author Doctor Félix Leroy. Posted in “Molecular Psychiatry”.
3. The brain’s reward pathway: A set of nerve fibers, called the retroflex fasciculus, is essential in reward-related behaviors and is associated with different psychiatric diseases. Despite their importance, the mechanisms that guide these nerve fibers during embryonic development on their way to the place where they should arrive are practically unknown. Two works identify key molecules for these fibers to reach their destination. In particular, a protein called netrin 1 is found in the ventral tegmental area of the brain, and is generated by dopamine-producing neurons. Many pleasurable feelings are born in this region of the brain, and it plays an important role in cognition, impulses, drug addiction, and mental illness.
Works led by Dr. Eduardo Puelles. Published in “Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology”.
Four. A hitherto unknown memory formation mechanism opens the door to correcting cognitive impairment: Protein synthesis is necessary for the synapse modifications that underlie stable memory formation. However, how protein synthesis can be regulated at the synapse level is unknown. A study has characterized some complexes that regulate this process and facilitate the consolidation of associative and spatial memories in mice. It reveals a potentially specific target to correct cognitive impairment in pathological contexts.
Work led by Dr. Isabel Pérez-Otaño. Posted in “eLife”.
5.- Fish eyes rewrite brain development: The network of nerves that connect our eyes to our brain is sophisticated, and researchers have now shown that it evolved much earlier than previously thought, thanks to an unexpected source: the gar fish. The eyes of this fish are connected to its brain in a way that is both ancient and human-like. This means that this connection scheme was already present in ancient fish at least 450 million years ago, and therefore the connection system of our eyes is about 100 million years older than previously believed.
International work in which Dr. Eloísa Herrera has participated. Posted in “Science”.
6.- A component of marijuana reduces behavioral disturbances in cocaine withdrawal: Cannabidiol, a component of cannabis (marijuana) without psychoactive properties, normalized motor and somatic disturbances and induced an anxiolytic effect in a new mouse model of spontaneous cocaine withdrawal. The study suggests the potential use of cannabidiol for the management of cocaine withdrawal.
Study led by Dr. Jorge Manzanares. Posted in “Neurotherapeutics”.
7.- A mouse model for the study of schizophrenia: This Lis1/sLis1 mutant mouse model reproduces this disease that affects 1% of the population in two main aspects: pathological and symptomatic. LIS1 is a gene previously related to the risk of developing schizophrenia in humans and could be one of the pathophysiological processes underlying the disease.
Led by Dr. Salvador Martínez. Published in “Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology”.
8.- The master gene that opens the door to repair sensory circuits: It’s called Neurogenin2 and it’s capable of turning star-shaped nerve cells, astrocytes, into neurons. Both types of cells are “related” so that when they are reprogrammed, the astrocytes become neurons. This research opens the door to recover the sensory circuits of sight or hearing damaged in early stages of life.
Work led by Dr. Guillermina López-Bendito. Posted in “Science Advances”.
9.- How being overweight speeds up puberty. The communication between body fat and the brain is a switch that sets off puberty. But in conditions of childhood overweight, fat transmits a wrong message to the brain, which interprets that the body is already ready for reproduction.
The discovery led by doctors Javier Morante and María Domínguez, was published in “Cell Reports”.
10.- Deciphered the cause of neuronal death associated with epilepsy. Those responsible for the atrophy or sclerosis associated with temporal lobe epilepsy are a series of genes that are expressed differently in different cell types in a region of the hippocampus called CA1, which is involved in memory formation. This atrophy is characterized by the death of a population of neurons called pyramidal neurons in the superficial layer of the CA1 region of the hippocampus.
Research co-led by Liset Menéndez de la Prida, from the Cajal Institute of the CSIC, and José López-Atalaya, from the UMH-CSIC Institute of Neurosciences and published in «Cell Reports».
eleven.- Suitability of mouse models in Parkinson’s, Huntington’s or ADHD: Research shows that, as in humans, in mice there are also two regions in the striatum, the gateway to a circuit critical for affective control, motor activity and cognitive functions. The work is relevant to understand why problems in striatal activity generate motor, cognitive and emotional symptoms in humans.
Research led by Dr. Ramón Reig and published in “eLife”.
12.- Critical periods of social circuits identified involved in the regulation of complex behaviors such as maternal care or couple bonds. Oxytocin and vasopressin are at the base of these “social circuits” of the brain, which have been visualized in 3D with unprecedented resolution. According to this work, alterations in these circuits may be at the base of mental disorders characterized by deficits in social interaction, such as autism, anxiety and social aggressiveness or schizophrenia, and the work identifies the characteristics and critical periods of formation of these circuits in the healthy brain, which will make it possible to identify alterations in pathologies of social behavior.
Work of doctors Pilar Madrigal and Sandra Jurado. Posted in Communications Biology.
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