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Washington: It turns out that "traffic jams" can also occur in your brain and that they can be harmful.
Researchers at the Friedrich-Alexander-Erlangen-Nürnberg University (FAU) were able to confirm that they had been able to prove that disturbed transport routes in nerve cells are an important cause of Parkinson's disease. Parkinson.
Nerve fibers give nerve cells their characteristic long form. Measuring up to one meter in length, they form the points of contact with other nerve cells.
To accomplish the important task of communicating with other nerve cells, the thin branches of these nerve fibers and their ends, called synapses, must be regularly energized by the body of the cell.
If this source of energy is interrupted, the synapses are destroyed. The connections between the nerve cells are then disrupted, which can lead to cell death. This process is typical of the development of brain disorders such as Parkinson's disease.
Researchers have now successfully demonstrated that a type of "traffic jam" in nerve cells could be the cause
. is triggered by a protein called alpha-synuclein, also present in healthy nerve cells. In abnormal nerve cells, the protein forms deposits, or even lumps, causing a delay, disrupting the energy supply of the nerve fibers and eventually damaging the synapses.
The researchers were also able to demonstrate this mechanism in cell cultures. taken from patients with Parkinson's disease. A small skin sample was taken from affected patients. These skin cells were then converted into stem cells, which can be grown in any cell type, and in this case, in nerve cells.
The complete results are present in the journal – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 19659011]
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