Scientists have come up with new ideas for dealing with obsessive compulsive disorder and Huntington's disease

astrological glial cell calcium regulates nerve circuits and behavior in mice.
is a good thing to
, but there is not necessarily a cleaning habit. The TEAM at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) moved a little bit in the brains of mice, and the mice's face-washing behavior became simply not stopped.
researchers say their experiments have shown that astrogenic glial cells in the synths of the brain help control obsessive-compulsive disorder behavior in mice. The study was published in
journal Science and Technology.synth is one of the neural sections of the cerebral substrate, which has the function of regulating muscle tension and coordinating various fine and complex movements. As early as 2007, Feng Guoping, a Professor of Chinese descent at Duke University in the United States, published a paper in Nature, reporting for the first time on the relationship between synth and obsessive compulsive disorder.
Feng Found that when a protein was missing from the synth, the mice repeatedly scratched their faces until the blood flow from the skin was broken, and they were also restless. This symptom can be improved by gene therapy.
recent study, the team of BALjit Khakh, a professor of neurobiology at UCLA, looked at calcium signals in sprite star-shaped glial cells.
brain is made up of many different types of cells, of which asstary glial cells account for 40% to 60%. Asantal glial cells have many forms of calcium signaling.
, the first author of the paper and a postdoctoral student at UCLA, told China Science Daily: "There is still very little understanding of the function of calcium signals in star-shaped glial cells. One of the big obstacles scientists face is the difficulty of weakening these signals at certain stages of development and in specific brain regions. This
, Khakh's team developed a sophisticated method that specifically reduced the signal of astrocyte calcium in the synths of the brains of adult mice. Compared to the control group, the treated mice performed fairly well on tests related to anxiety and motor ability, but when they were put into an open space or a clean room, they tended to hide in the corner and dress up desperately.
not to know, a startled, treatment group of mice spent 450 percent of the time on self-retouching the average mouse.'s face-washing behavior was an instinctive behavior controlled by the sympospheria of the brain, and Khakh's team believes that excessive self-modification is associated with obsessive compulsive disorder esophonics.
" obsessive compulsive disorder is a habitual behavior caused by cognitive impairment. For example, a person at the level of consciousness clearly know that the door has been locked, or can not control their own three times run back to check. Xu Lin, a researcher at the Kunming Animal Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who was not involved in the study, explained to the China Science Daily, "And the sprite is closely related to the formation of 'habits'." The
obsessive compulsive disorder in humans is associated with brain structures such as the cerebral cortical layer, and scientists have found many areas of the brain that may influence compulsive behavior. However, the current treatment options for 40% to 60% of patients with obsessive compulsive disorder can not produce the desired results. "Scientists need to start with new ideas to reveal the underlying mechanisms of obsessive compulsive disorder, and our work proves that asaline glial cells are involved in the pathogenesis of obsessive compulsive disorder and points to a potential therapeutic direction." Yu Xinzhu said.
, another well-known neurological disease, Huntington's disease, can also show obsessive-compulsive symptoms at the earliest. If model mice with Huntington's disease were artificially bred, they would behave like obsessive compulsive disorder, in the form of constantly sorting out their instruments.
then, is huntington's "skunk" behavior also related to calcium signals in astrogenic glial cells?
answer is yes, and this behavior can be mitigated by a blocker associated with a key process of calcium signaling in astrogenic glial cells. "That's interesting." "Researchers have found that two different sources of compulsive behavior in mice have very similar internal physiological mechanisms, " Xu said. "
does this mean that obsessive-compulsive behavior, whether caused by Huntington's disease or other causes, can be intervened by calcium signals that affect astrogenic glial cells?"", for the first time, linked mental disorders to changes in astrogenic glial cells in specific brain circuits. Yu Xinzhu said, "We expect this result to be applied in clinical medicine." Xu
said he would like to see results on the source of calcium signals for astrogenic glial cells. If we know where the calcium signal comes from, it may regulate its source, which may make it easier to regulate the joint activity of nerve and glial cells, thus making it more likely to be translated into clinical applications. "
for the Khakh team, their work will continue." "We are currently studying the role of astrogenic glial cells in other mental disorders, " Yu said. We have also bred new genetically modified mice, which will allow us to study the overall function of all-brain astroid glial cells at different stages of development. (Source: Li Chenyang, China Science Daily)