{"id":24516,"date":"2019-04-01T09:05:18","date_gmt":"2019-04-01T13:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencescosmaincms.cm.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=24516"},"modified":"2019-04-01T09:05:18","modified_gmt":"2019-04-01T13:05:18","slug":"research-unlocks-mystery-of-premature-brain-cell-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/research-unlocks-mystery-of-premature-brain-cell-deaths\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Unlocks Mystery of Premature Brain Cell Deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Certain toxic proteins have long been suspected as the culprits killing off brain cells, a process eventually leading to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer\u2019s. But exactly how those proteins were prompting the premature death of the cells was, up until recently, a mystery.<\/p>\n

UCF researchers developed a method by setting up a synthetic reconstitution of the conditions in which the amyloid beta (A-beta) peptide naturally attacks brain cells. The controlled setting, paired with fluorescence measurements, made it possible to monitor formation of calcium-conducting pores by A-beta in lipid bilayer membranes.\u00a0 They were also able to pin down the molecular structure of the pores by internal reflection infrared spectroscopy.<\/p>\n

Now that researchers have achieved a better understanding of how the peptides breach the cell membrane, it\u2019s theoretically possible to design strategies of impeding membrane perforation by A-beta, with an ultimate goal of staving off the onset and\/or progression of the disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to fight the enemy efficiently, you have to understand how it works. This study gives us a wealth of information that paves the way for further, more clinically oriented research,\u201d said Suren Tatulian, Ph.D., who developed and published the research in Scientific Reports<\/em>, along with two graduate students, Nabin Kandel and Jason O. Matos.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Certain toxic proteins have long been suspected as the culprits killing off brain cells, a process eventually leading to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer\u2019s. But exactly how those proteins were prompting the premature death of the cells was, up until recently, a mystery. 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