Wednesday, 17 December 2014

Drugs to improve brain plasticity

The results of a treatment involving the CIBIO researchers were published on "Nature Neuroscience"

Versione stampabile

This is an important discovery resulting from the collaboration between the Centre of Integrative Biology (CIBIO) of the University of Trento, the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) of Genoa and the Institute of Neurosciences of the Italian National Council of Research (IN-CNR) of Pisa. The study was coordinated by Laura Cancedda, of the Department of Neurosciences and Brain Technologies of the IIT and by Matteo Caleo, of IN-CNR, and it was carried out in collaboration with Yuri Bozzi of CIBIO and published on the journal 'Nature Neuroscience'.

Yuri Bozzi del CIBIO (foto Alessio Coser, Archivio Università di Trento) The research concerns the reduced brain plasticity which marks some of the brain pathologies and which might be treated, in the future, with drugs to prolong the “critical period” of the development, during which the brain is particularly reactive to stimuli. 

The research team focussed on the development of the visual system, interfered with the neural transmission during the first phases of the development, administering a commercial drug, bumetanide, to young animal models, whose diuretic action was already known. The treatment led to a time-expansion of the “plasticity critical period”, making the visual system of the adult brain more plastic, without altering its normal maturation. The team obtained these results studying the effects of bumetanide on the communication among neurons.

“GABA, the gamma-amino butyric acid, is a neurotransmitter”, explained Caleo, “In the developing brain it has an excitatory function, thus favouring the communications among the brain cells, while it inhibits such communications in the adult brain”. In particular, this molecule regulates the brain capacity to adapt as a consequence of the stimuli coming from the surrounding environment, which is defined ‘plasticity’ and diminishes with the ageing process”. 

The researchers studied the GABA action on the “plasticity critical period”, i.e. the time span of the brain development during which the sensorial systems are particularly reactive to the environmental stimuli. This phase is ‘critical’ for the brain development: traumatic events or pathologies during this period may alter permanently the development of the brain areas connected with the sensorial perceptions.

The researchers administered bumetanide in young animal models, whose interaction with the GABA neurotransmitter was already known.

Alcuni neuroni della corteccia visiva, marcati con una proteina fluorescente“The pharmacological treatment prolonged the duration of the ‘critical period’, making the visual system of the adult brain more plastic, in a moment when it usually is not plastic, without altering its normal maturation”, explained Laura Cancedda, team leader and researcher at IIT. “The possibility to prolong the reaction phase to external stimuli is important if you consider the genetic pathologies of the neurodevelopment, which reduce the plasticity of the adult brain. We have now a deeper understanding of the early manipulation of the transmission of the neurotransmitter. This lets us hypothesise specific rehabilitation actions during the brain development, with long-term enhancement on the learning capacity”.