Scientists have found proteins that enhance learning and memory

Recently, an article was published in the international magazine cell In the research paper on metabolism, researchers from Salk Research Institute found that the physiological and psychological activities of human body depend on a single metabolic protein, which can control the blood flow and nutrients of the whole body This research may be used to develop potential therapies for regenerative medicine and developmental medicine research to solve individual memory and learning disabilities For some help According to researcher Ronald Evans, the heart and muscles need strong energy to exercise, while neurons need a lot of energy to help the body form memory; We found that the energy of muscle and brain can be controlled by a single protein called estrogen related receptor γ (ERR γ) Previously, researchers revealed the role of err γ in heart and skeletal muscle In 2011, researchers found that promoting err γ activity of sedentary mice can help increase blood supply of muscle and double running ability of mice Err γ can turn on a whole set of muscle host genes to help transform fat into energy, and it can also act as a major metabolic switch to stimulate and enhance muscle expression; although research has revealed that err γ is active in the brain But the researchers don't know why the brain burns sugars, and err γ has been proved to only burn fat before, so the researchers decided to explain the specific role of the protein in brain cells through in-depth research By isolating and observing the neurons in vitro, researcher Liming Pei found that err γ protein in muscle can activate the expression of several metabolism genes in brain cells, which is related to carbohydrate rather than fat; moreover, neurons without err γ will not increase energy metabolism, but will neutralize this process Err γ can open the fat burning pathway in muscle tissue and the carbohydrate burning pathway in brain, the researchers said Err γ is the most active in the hippocampus of mice, which is the main area of the formation of new brain cells in the brain This area is mainly involved in the formation of memory and learning ability At the same time, it also needs a lot of energy The researchers want to know whether err γ has a direct role in learning and memory Then they found a certain area by studying the mice without err γ in the brain Compared with the normal level of err γ, mice without the protein, though having normal vision, movement and balance ability, often learn to swim slowly in the "water maze" and are not good at remembering the previous maze map Therefore, mice without err γ are the typical slow learners, and the change of err γ level may be the root of individual learning ability difference Everyone can learn, but some people can learn and memorize efficiently In this paper, the researchers associate this difference with the metabolic change of the big brain Understanding the metabolic mechanism of neurons may help to develop new therapies for learning and attention disorder related diseases If possible, researchers hope to improve individual memory by changing the level of err γ, just like enhancing muscle function; In the end, Evans said, what we found is that memory can really be built on metabolic scaffolds If we want to understand the mechanism of memory and learning, we need to understand the deeper mechanism hidden in the whole process.