Introducing the brain: modulating glutamate (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, April 21, 2022, 16:49 (947 days ago) @ David Turell

More precise snapse control found:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220420170503.htm

"The new research takes a close look at glutamate, the most prevalent neurotransmitter in the brain. Glutamate binds to receptors on brain cells, which opens a channel into the cell, allowing ions to pass through to propagate an electrical signal.

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"Each receptor can bind up to four molecules of glutamate and produce four different levels of conductivity. Previous studies had linked binding to conductivity in a simple stepwise fashion, in which binding each additional glutamate molecule increased the conductivity another step.

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"These images reveal that glutamate binds to the subunits of its receptor only in specific patterns. That overturns the prevailing view that each subunit binds glutamate independently and points toward new levels of complexity in neuronal signaling and drug responses.

"Instead of straightforward stepwise transitions, Sobolevsky and his colleagues found that a glutamate molecule must bind to one of two specific receptor subunits before any glutamates can bind to the other two subunits. In addition, the conductivity levels of the receptor didn't correlate directly to the number of glutamates bound to it; a receptor could have two or more glutamates attached but still only reach the first level of conductivity.

"The results open an entirely new line of investigation, and the team is now probing how different accessory molecules on neurons affect the interaction. Learning more about the glutamate receptors' specific activation states may aid the development of better drugs for conditions that involve glutamate receptors, such as depression, dementia, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, and stroke."

Comment: these fine-tuned controls must be designed to work properly from the beginning.