Tuesday, July 18, 2017

New role of cholesterol in regulating brain proteins discovered - NEUROSCIENCE


A study led by researchers at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) and the Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics at the Faculty of Medicine in Charité Hospital, Berlin, published in the journal Nature Communications, demonstrates that the cholesterol present in cell membranes can interfere with the function of an important brain membrane protein, through a previously unknown mode of interaction.

Specifically, cholesterol is capable of regulating the activity of the adenosine receptor, by invading it and accessing the active site. This will allow new ways of interacting with these proteins to be devised that in the future could lead to drugs for treating diseases like Alzheimer's.


Source and further reading:
https://www.imim.cat/news/247/new-role-of-cholesterol-in-regulating-brain-proteins-discovered

Journal article:https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14505

Source: Corina Marinescu

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