How do different parts of the body communicate? Scientists at St. Jude explores how signals sent from skeletal muscles affect the brain.
The team studied fruit flies and advanced brain cell models called organoids. They focused on the symptoms that muscles send when they are under pressure. The researchers found that stress signals are dependent on an enzyme called Amyrel amylase and its product, the maltose disaccharide.
The scientists showed that imitation of the stress signals can protect the brain and retina from aging. The signals work by preventing the build up of complex protein accumulations. Findings show that tailoring this sign may help combat neurodegenerative conditions such as age-related depression and Alzheimer’s disease.
We found that a muscle-induced stress response may affect not only the muscles but also promote protein quality control in distant cigarettes such as the brain and retina. This stress response actually protected those cigarettes as they got older. “
Fabio Demontis, PhD, Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Cell metabolism published a report on this work.
Source:
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital