(Press-News.org) New research has revealed a previously unknown mechanism in the body which regulates a hormone that is crucial for motivation, stress responses and control of blood pressure, pain and appetite. The breakthrough could be used to design drugs to help fight health problems connected with these functions in the future.
Researchers at the University of Bristol and University College London found that lactate – essentially lactic acid – causes cells in the brain to release more noradrenaline (norepinephrine in US English), a hormone and neurotransmitter which is fundamental for brain function. Without it people can hardly wake up or focus on anything.
Production of lactate can be triggered by muscle use, which reinforces the connection between exercise and positive mental wellbeing.
Lactate was first discovered in sour milk by Swedish chemist, Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1780. It is produced naturally by the body, for example when muscles are at work. In the brain, it has always been regarded as an energy source which can be delivered to neurones as fuel to keep them working when brain activity increases.
This research, published today [11 February] in Nature Communications, identifies a secondary function for lactate as a signal between brain cells. It implies that there is an as yet unknown receptor for lactate in the brain which must be present on noradrenaline cells to make them sensitive to lactate.
Professor Sergey Kasparov, from Bristol University's School of Physiology and Pharmacology, said: "Our findings suggest that lactate has more than one incarnation - in addition to its role as an energy source, it is also a signal to neurones to release more noradrenaline."
Dr Anja Teschemacher, also from the University of Bristol, added: "The next big task is to identify the receptor which mediates this effect because this will help to design drugs to block or stimulate this response. If we can regulate the release of noradrenaline – which is absolutely fundamental for brain function - then this could have important implications for the treatment of major health problems such as stress, blood pressure, pain and depression."
Astrocytes, small non-neuronal star-shaped cells in the brain and spinal cord, are the principle source of brain lactate. The discovery that astrocytes communicate directly with neurones opens up a whole new area of pharmacology which has been little explored.
INFORMATION:
The research was funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), the Medical Research Council (MRC), The Wellcome Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
Paper:
'Lactate-mediated glia-neuronal signaling in the mammalian brain' by F. Tang, S. Lane, A. Korsak, J.F.R. Paton, A.V. Gourine, S. Kasparov & A.G. Teschemacher, in Nature Communications DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4284
New research sheds light on how the body regulates fundamental neuro-hormone
2014-02-11
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Researchers discover 'epic' new Burgess Shale site in Canada's Kootenay National Park
2014-02-11
February 11, 2014 Kootenay National Park, British Columbia -- Yoho National Park's 505-million-year-old Burgess Shale – home to some of the planet's earliest animals, including a very primitive human relative – is one of the world's most important fossil sites. Now, more than a century after its discovery, a compelling sequel has been unearthed: 42 kilometres away in Kootenay National Park, a new Burgess Shale fossil site has been located that appears to equal the importance of the original discovery, and may one day even surpass it.
The find was made in the summer of ...
Minority political candidates just need a chance
2014-02-11
EAST LANSING, Mich. — It's not necessarily voters who should be blamed for the lack of minorities in state legislatures, but instead the two major political parties for not recruiting enough candidates, indicates new research by a Michigan State University scholar.
Eric Gonzalez Juenke analyzed nearly 10,000 statehouse elections in 2000 and 2010 and found Latino candidates were on the ballot just 5 percent of the time. But when Latinos did run for office, they won just as often as their white counterparts – even in districts where most voters were white.
Juenke's other ...
Biodiversity in production forests can be improved without large costs
2014-02-11
Forest management is based on recommendations that are supposed to maximize economic revenues. However, in 40% of cases a better economic result would be achieved by neglecting some of the recommendations. This would also greatly benefit biodiversity.
These results were obtained by a research group lead by Professor Mikko Mönkkönen at the University Jyväskylä. The group studied a production forest landscape encompassing 68 square kilometers of land and more than 30,000 forest stands in Central Finland.
The research project aimed at revealing the potential of a forest ...
Even moderate weight loss can prevent and cure obstructive sleep apnoea
2014-02-11
Even a moderate weight reduction can prevent the progression of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), and even cure it, according to a 4-year Finish follow-up study published recently in Sleep Medicine. The study focused on the effects of weight loss on OSA and demonstrated, for the first time, that a sustained weight loss of just 5% was enough to prevent the disease from worsening and even cure it in a long-term follow-up.
Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) has become a major burden for our health care systems over the last years. Although it is one of the most increasingly prevalent ...
Photo + fragrance of chocolate cake = more chocolate cakes sold
2014-02-11
Fashion magazines come pre-loaded with scratch-and-sniff panels for perfume and aftershave, but what about advertisements for foods like chocolate chip cookies and fresh-baked bread? According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, when food advertisements combine a photo of food with an "imagined odor," consumers both salivate more for the item and then consume it in larger quantities.
"We wondered whether both real and imagined food smells would enhance consumer desire for that product. Does the concept of smelling food make people salivate more and increase ...
Revolutionary new view on heritability in plants
2014-02-11
Complex heritable traits are not only determined by changes in the DNA sequence. Scientists from the University of Groningen Bioinformatics Centre, together with their French colleagues, have shown that epigenetic marks can affect traits such as flowering time and architecture in plants. Furthermore, these marks are passed on for many generations in a stable manner. Their results were published in Science Express on Thursday, 6 February 2014. It seems that a revision of Genetics textbooks is now in order.
We've all been taught that DNA is the physical foundation of heredity. ...
How to make the wonder material graphene superconducting
2014-02-11
This news release is available in German.
Whenever a new material is discovered, scientists are eager to find out whether or not it can be superconducting. This applies particularly to the wonder material graphene. Now, an international team around researchers at the University of Vienna unveiled the superconducting pairing mechanism in Calcium doped graphene using the ARPES method. Their results are published in the reputed journal Nature Communications.
Superconducting materials exhibit an invaluable feature when cooled below a critical temperature – they allow ...
Acidic tumor pH inhibits drug effect
2014-02-11
Low pH in tumours counteracts the desired effect of the drug chloroquine, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. The results, which are published in the journal Autophagy, might explain possible lack of efficacy of chloroquine in clinical studies.
Chloroquine, a widely used antimalaria drug, is currently under investigation in clinical trials on cancer patients. It is the ability of chloroquine to inhibit autophagy in tumour cells that has piqued researchers' interest. Autophagy is a homeostatic process by which cells eat parts of themselves, ...
Recent decades likely wettest in 4 millennia in Tibet
2014-02-11
Recent decades may have been the wettest in 3,500 years in North East Tibet – according to climate researchers at the University of East Anglia (UK) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Lanzhou, China).
Researchers looked at 3,500-year-long tree ring records from North East Tibet to estimate annual precipitation. They found that recent decades have likely been the wettest on record in this semi-arid region.
The precipitation records have been reconstructed using sub-fossil, archaeological and living juniper tree samples from the north-eastern Tibetan Plateau. They reveal ...
Walking in their shoes: How fundraisers can boost donations
2014-02-11
When natural disaster strikes, calls for help are broadcast on television and across the Internet. Despite being exposed to the needs of widespread relief organizations, only a small percentage of us actually follow through by making a financial contribution. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, the more connected we feel with the people needing our help, the more likely we are to donate.
"Our thought is that people who act more independently might not necessarily be more benevolent than people who are more connected to others within their own ...