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Repairing the brain: Two genes unlock potential for treatment of schizophrenia
Research led by scientists from Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore (Duke-NUS) has linked the abnormal behaviour of two genes (BDNF and DTNBP1) to the underlying cause of schizophrenia. These findings have provided a new target for schizophrenia treatment.
Schizophrenia is a devastating mental disorder that affects nearly 1% of the total human population. The dominant cause of the disorder lies in impaired brain development that eventually leads to imbalanced signals within the brain. This imbalance within the brain is thought to cause hallucinations and paranoia in people with schizophrenia.
"We wanted to understand the mechanism by which the brain circuit operates," explained senior author Assistant Professor Shawn Je, from the Neuroscience and Behavioural Disorders Programme at Duke-NUS. "In particular, we wanted to understand the ability of a specific type of cell in the brain, termed interneurons, to modulate brain network activity to maintain a balance in brain signalling."
Dr. Je and his team analysed signalling activity in neuronal cultures that either did not have the DTNBP1 gene or had lowered levels of the gene, because reduced DTNBP1 levels and genetic disruptions of DTNBP1 in mice resulted in schizophrenia-like behaviours. Using multiple model systems, they found that the low levels of DTNBP1 resulted in dysfunctional interneurons and over-activated neuronal network activity. Reducing levels of DTNBP1 also lowered the levels of the secreted protein molecule, BDNF.
BDNF was then shown to be one of the most important factors that regulate the development of a normal brain circuit. It plays an important role in the interneurons ability to connect to the brain. Interneurons receive BDNF via a transport system run by DTNBP1. This can be likened to the delivery of a parcel: DTNBP1 is the driver of the delivery van and without the driver, the parcel BDNF cannot be delivered to the required destination. Without BDNF, the abnormal circuit development and brain network activity observed in schizophrenia patients results.
Additionally, Dr. Je and his team also found that when BDNF levels were restored, brain development and activity were rescued and returned to more normal levels, despite the absence of DTNBP1.
While the two genes DTNBP1 and BDNF have been singled out as risk genes for schizophrenia in studies before, this is the first study to show that the two function together. Pinpointing the importance of the abnormal delivery of BDNF has shed considerable insight into how the brain network develops. It also presents possibilities for potential treatments for schizophrenia designed around enhancing BDNFlevels.
In a follow-up study, Dr. Je plans to test if these findings are viable in an animal model. If proven successful, this could mean that correcting the imbalance within the brain circuits of schizophrenia patients may bring us closer to producing a treatment.
The study was published online in the journal Biological Psychiatry.
Explore further: Posttraumatic stress disorder treatment: Genetic predictor of response to exposure therapy
More information: Regulation of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Exocytosis and Gamma-Aminobutyric Acidergic Interneuron Synapse by the Schizophrenia Susceptibility Gene Dysbindin-1,dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.08.019
Journal reference: Biological Psychiatry
Provided by: Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore
Source: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-09-brain-genes-potential-treatment-schizophrenia.html
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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