New Brain Cell Development Process Found
Posted on: Monday, 6 August 2007, 18:12 CDT
U.S. scientists have discovered a biological process in brain cell development that might help explain some causes of mental retardation.
Rutgers cell biologists Hongxin Chen and Associate Professor Bonnie Firestein determined proteins of the Rho family, when excessively present in developing neurons, inhibit another protein that promotes healthy neuron development.
Imbalances of Rho proteins have been known to affect dendrite branching, and therefore have been implicated in causing mental retardation, said Firestein. "How this happens, however, has not been clear. Now we're seeing that Rho proteins signal other proteins downstream.
In our case, we discovered that a type of Rho protein called RhoA is inhibiting cypin production when it is overactive or present in excess, said Firestein. The resulting lack of cypin is detrimental to healthy branching development in dendrites.
Firestein and Chen, a postdoctoral research fellow, believe their finding offers a new potential target for future drug therapies aimed at promoting healthier dendrite branching.
The study appears in The Journal of Neuroscience,
Source: United Press International
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