Bristol [UK]: Research led by Bristol has identified specific drug targets within the neural circuitry that encodes memories and paved the way for significant advances in the treatment of a wide variety of brain disorders.
Memory loss is a central feature of many neurological and psychiatric diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. Current treatments for memory loss are very limited and the search for safe and effective drug therapies has had limited success. The study was published in Nature Communications.
The research was carried out in collaboration with colleagues from the international biopharmaceutical company Sosei Heptares. The results identify specific receptors for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine that redirect information flowing through memory circuits in the hippocampus. Acetylcholine is released in the brain during learning and is essential for making new memories.
To date, the only effective treatment for the symptoms of cognitive or memory impairment associated with diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease is to use drugs that increase acetylcholine in general. However, this leads to several undesirable side effects. The discovery of specific receptor targets that have the potential to produce positive effects while avoiding negative ones is promising.
Lead author, Professor Jack Mellor of the University of Bristol’s Center for Synaptic Plasticity, said, “These findings relate to the basic processes that go on in the brain during the encoding of memory and how they can be regulated by brain state or by drugs, the receptor proteins that target certain drugs.
In the long term, the discovery of these specific targets opens up ways and possibilities for the development of new therapies for the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and other diseases with pronounced cognitive impairments. The partnership between science and industry is important to these discoveries and we hope to continue working together on these projects. “
Dr. Miles Congreve, Chief Scientific Officer at Sosei Heptares, added, “These important studies have helped us develop and select new, highly targeted therapeutics that mimic the action of acetylcholine on specific muscarinic receptors without the undesirable side effects of earlier and less targeted ones Treatments. This approach has the exciting potential to improve memory and cognitive function in patients with Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases. “
“It’s fascinating how the brain prioritizes different information and finds out what is important in memory and what can be discarded. We know there have to be mechanisms in place to get the things that are important to us, but we know very little about how these processes work. Our future work program aims to show how the brain does this by using acetylcholine in combination with other neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine, “said Professor Mellor.
source https://www.bisayanews.com/2021/09/20/research-reveals-drug-targets-for-memory-enhancement-health-news-et-healthworld/
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