Impaired dopamine transporters contribute to Parkinson's disease-like symptoms
A rare mutation that causes a Parkinson's disease-like disorder in young children interferes with dopamine transporters in the brain, suggesting that treatments targeting the transporters may be beneficial.
2021-05-25
(Press-News.org) A rare mutation that causes Parkinson's disease-like symptoms interrupts the flow of dopamine in the brain, suggests a study in fruit flies published today in eLife.
The findings provide more detailed insights about why young children with this mutation develop these symptoms. This new information, as well as previous evidence that therapies helping to improve dopamine balance in the brain can alleviate some symptoms in the flies, suggests that this could be a beneficial new treatment strategy.
Parkinson's disease causes progressive degeneration of the brain that leads to impaired movement and coordination. Current treatments focus on replacing or increasing the levels of dopamine to help reduce movement-related symptoms. But these drugs can have side effects, do not resolve all symptoms, and often stop working over time.
"Although the exact cause of Parkinson's disease remains unclear, studies of rare mutations that lead to the early onset of similar symptoms in some families have helped us learn more about possible causes, and suggested approaches for alleviating symptoms," says first author Jenny Aguilar, a former graduate student at the Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, US.
To learn more, Aguilar and colleagues studied genetically modified fruit flies with a mutation that causes a Parkinson's disease-like condition in young children, called dopamine transporter deficiency syndrome (DTDS).
They showed that the mutation impairs the function of a so-called 'gate protein' that ushers dopamine from the outside of the cell inside. The mutation causes the gate protein to become stuck facing the inside of the cell more frequently, meaning that dopamine builds up outside. This slows the ability of the flies to motor coordinate their take off. "Over time, this dopamine build-up may lead to the production of less dopamine, causing worsening movement problems and other symptoms," Aguilar says.
The team next treated the flies with a malaria drug called chloroquine, which has been shown in animals to increase the number of other proteins by preventing them from being recycled. They found that the drug helped to alleviate some of the flies' movement problems.
While chloroquine is a widely available drug, it has side effects that make it unlikely to serve as a treatment for Parkinson's disease-like symptoms, except in rare circumstances. This work suggests that developing treatments to improve the function of the dopamine-transporting protein may relieve movement symptoms and also stop the progressive loss of dopamine production.
"Our study provides a blueprint for using fruit flies to learn more about how problems with dopamine-transporting proteins contribute to Parkinson's-like symptoms," concludes senior author Aurelio Galli, Professor at the Department of Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, US. "This could pave the way for further research into new treatment approaches that focus on improving dopamine transport."
INFORMATION:
Media contact
Emily Packer, Media Relations Manager
eLife
e.packer@elifesciences.org
+44 (0)1223 855373
About eLife
eLife is a non-profit organisation created by funders and led by researchers. Our mission is to accelerate discovery by operating a platform for research communication that encourages and recognises the most responsible behaviours. We aim to publish work of the highest standards and importance in all areas of biology and medicine, including Neuroscience, and Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics, while exploring creative new ways to improve how research is assessed and published. eLife receives financial support and strategic guidance from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Max Planck Society and Wellcome. Learn more at https://elifesciences.org/about.
To read the latest Neuroscience research published in eLife, visit https://elifesciences.org/subjects/neuroscience.
And for the latest in Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics, see https://elifesciences.org/subjects/structural-biology-molecular-biophysics.
About UAB
Known for its innovative and interdisciplinary approach to education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a part of the University of Alabama System, is an internationally renowned research university and academic medical centre with over $600 million in research awards annually, as well as Alabama's largest employer, with some 23,000 employees, and has an annual economic impact exceeding $7 billion on the state. The pillars of UAB's mission include education, research, innovation and economic development, community engagement, and patient care. Learn more at http://www.uab.edu.
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2021-05-25
Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), narrow strips of single-layer graphene, have interesting physical, electrical, thermal, and optical properties because of the interplay between their crystal and electronic structures. These novel characteristics have pushed them to the forefront in the search for ways to advance next-generation nanotechnologies.
While bottom-up fabrication techniques now allow the synthesis of a broad range of graphene nanoribbons that feature well-defined edge geometries, widths, and heteroatom incorporations, the question of whether or not structural disorder is present in these atomically precise GNRs, and to what extent, is still subject to debate. The answer to this ...
2021-05-25
In the latest National Autism Indicators Report, researchers from Drexel University’s A.J. Drexel Autism Institute examined surveys of family members of autistic adults who use Developmental Disability services, and found needs for additional supports like respite care and assistance to plan for crisis and emergencies, especially among families whose adult lived with them.
Data from the surveys showed over one quarter of families with autistic adults who use Developmental Disability services and live with family do not have enough services or supports for themselves, according to the report. And over half of these families ...
2021-05-25
Staying up all night, working nonstop, eating on the run and skipping meals are often telltale signs of starting a new business. But research shows this constant hustle - which is often glorified as the key to success - can have a negative impact not only on an entrepreneur's health and well-being but also his or her business.
New research led by UCF assistant professor of management Jeff Gish suggests that engaging in recovery may help entrepreneurs reduce the negative impact of stress.
"Entrepreneurs who work really hard and grind on their business and who most ...
2021-05-25
Cells sense and respond to the mechanical properties of the cellular microenvironment in the body. Changes in these properties, which occur in a number of human pathologies, including cancer, can elicit abnormal responses from cells. How the cells adapt to such changes in the mechanical microenvironment is not well understood.
A team of researchers at Texas A&M University are working to understand cellular mechanosensing -- the ability to sense and respond to the mechanical properties of the microenvironment -- in a unique way. Dr. Tanmay Lele, Unocal Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Translational Medical Sciences, partnered with Dr. Charles Baer, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Florida. ...
2021-05-25
BUFFALO, N.Y. - To improve the development of new saliva-based diagnostic tests and personalized medicine, the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) has supported the development of the Human Salivary Proteome Wiki, the first public platform that catalogs and curates data on each of the thousands of proteins within our saliva.
Detailed in an article published on Tuesday, May 25 in the Journal of Dental Research, the wiki provides researchers and clinicians with rich, unbiased evidence from multiple independent studies to help explore the dynamic and complex nature of saliva, as well as analytical tools to search for data by tissue type, disease and more.
"This ...
2021-05-25
New effective compounds, which can be endogenous donors of a signaling molecule - hydrogen sulfide in the body, were synthesized by SUSU scientists. Due to this property, the obtained compounds are potential drugs with a cancer-preventing effect. The research work was published in the Russian Chemical Bulletin (Q3).
Organosulfur compounds with anticancer, antibacterial, and antirheumatic properties have been studied for some years by scientists from South Ural State University and N.D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences. In the latest study, they attempted to search for new derivatives of 1,2-dithiol-3-thiones - compounds with various ...
2021-05-25
Scientists from the UK's University of Bath explore racemases - an important type of enzyme that is linked to certain cancers and other life-threatening diseases while also being critical to cell function - in a paper published in the prestigious journal Chemical Society Reviews. The scientists also propose new strategies for finding drugs that neutralise these enzymes.
Many racemases and epimerases perform vital roles in human and animal cells, and in disease-causing organisms. They facilitate proper nerve function, the degradation of toxic substances, the formation of bacterial cell walls and the conversion of certain drugs into their active ...
2021-05-25
Alzheimer's disease is the main cause of dementia and current therapeutic strategies cannot prevent, slow down or cure the pathology. The disease is characterized by memory loss, caused by the degeneration and death of neuronal cells in several regions of the brain, including the hippocampus, which is where memories are initially formed. Researchers from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN) have identified a small molecule that can be used to rejuvenate the brain and counteract the memory loss.
New cells in old brains
The presence of adult-born cells in the hippocampus ...
2021-05-25
A research group from Osaka University led by Professor Hisashi Arase and consisting of researchers from the Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, the Institute for Protein Research, the Immunology Frontier Research Center, the Center for Infectious Diseases, and the Graduate School of Medicine has discovered for the first time that both neutralizing antibodies that protect against infection as well as infection-enhancing antibodies that increase infectivity are produced after infection with SARS-CoV-2 by analyzing antibodies derived from COVID-19 patients.
Antibodies against the receptor binding site (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein play an important function as ...
2021-05-25
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A new map of dark matter in the local universe reveals several previously undiscovered filamentary structures connecting galaxies. The map, developed using machine learning by an international team including a Penn State astrophysicist, could enable studies about the nature of dark matter as well as about the history and future of our local universe.
Dark matter is an elusive substance that makes up 80% of the universe. It also provides the skeleton for what cosmologists call the cosmic web, the large-scale structure of the universe ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Impaired dopamine transporters contribute to Parkinson's disease-like symptoms
A rare mutation that causes a Parkinson's disease-like disorder in young children interferes with dopamine transporters in the brain, suggesting that treatments targeting the transporters may be beneficial.
