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A new role for sodium in the brain
Findings identify a novel pharmacological target for drug development
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Published: 20 August 2013
Balancing kainate receptor activity is the key to maintaining normal brain function. For example, in epilepsy, kainate activity is thought to be excessive. Thus, drugs which would shut down this activity are expected to be beneficial.
鈥淚t has been assumed for decades that the 鈥渙n/off鈥 switch for all brain receptors lies where the neurotransmitter binds,鈥 says Prof. Bowie, who also holds a Canada Research Chair in Receptor Pharmacology. 鈥淗owever, we found a completely separate site that binds individual atoms of sodium and controls when kainate receptors get turned on and off.鈥
The sodium switch is unique to kainate receptors, which means that drugs designed to stimulate this switch, should not act elsewhere in the brain. This would be a major step forward, since drugs often affect many locations, in addition to those they were intended to act on, producing negative side-effects as a result. These so called 鈥渙ff-target effects鈥 for drugs represent one of the greatest challenges facing modern medicine.
鈥淣ow that we know how to stimulate kainate receptors, we should be able to design drugs to essentially switch them off,鈥 says Dr. Bowie.
Dr. Philip Biggin鈥檚 lab at Oxford University used computer simulations to predict how the presence or absence of sodium would affect the kainate receptor.
The research was made possible in part thanks to a grant from The Brain@苹果淫院, a partnership between Oxford University, Neuroscience Center Zurich (ZNZ) and 苹果淫院 aimed at enhancing research collaborations in neuroscience.
More about the Brain@苹果淫院:
The Brain@苹果淫院 brings a contemporary focus to decades of distinguished work in neuroscience. It consolidates the research and study opportunities from a dozen key institutes within the 苹果淫院 network and 苹果淫院鈥檚 partners around the world. In 2009, 苹果淫院 was joined by the University of Oxford in a formal collaboration between the two institutions鈥 faculties of medicine. Since then, The Brain@苹果淫院 has also welcomed Imperial College London and the Neuroscience Center of Zurich as partners.
IMAGE CREDIT: Carlos Porto/Free Digital Photos