Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have discovered that the neurotransmitter adenosine effectively acts as a brake to dopamine, another well-known neurotransmitter involved in motor control.

Scientists found that adenosine operates in a kind of push-pull dynamic with dopamine in the brain; the new discovery published today in the journal Nature.

“There are two neuronal circuits: one that helps promote action and the other that inhibits action,” said senior author Haining Zhong, Ph.D., scientist with the OHSU Vollum Institute. “Dopamine promotes the first circuit to enable movement, and adenosine is the ‘brake’ that promotes the second circuit and brings balance to the system.”

The discovery could immediately suggest new avenues of drug development to treat symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, a movement disorder where the loss of dopamine-producing cells has been widely implicated as a cause.

Scientists have long suspected that dopamine is influenced by an opposing dynamic of neuronal signaling in the striatum — a critical region of the brain that mediates movement along with reward, motivation and learning. The striatum is also the primary brain region affected in Parkinson’s disease by the loss of dopamine-producing cells.

“People for a long time suspected there has to be this push-pull system,” said co-author Tianyi Mao, Ph.D., a scientist at the Vollum who happens to be married to Zhong.

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Mao Lab
Zhong Lab

Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University have identified a long-sought gene-encoded protein that enables the brain to communicate a broad range of signals across gaps between neurons, known as synapses.

The discovery published today in the journal Nature.

Known as synaptotagmin-3, or SYT3, the protein helps to replenish the supply of chemical neurotransmitters that carry signals between neurons.

Read the full OHSU News article here
Jackman Lab

Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University have revealed, for the first time and in near-atomic detail, the structure of the key part of the inner ear responsible for hearing.

“This is the last sensory system in which that fundamental molecular machinery has remained unknown,” said senior author Eric Gouaux, Ph.D., senior scientist with the OHSU Vollum Institute and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. “The molecular machinery that carries out this absolutely amazing process has been unresolved for decades.”

Until now.

Read the Full Article Here
Gouaux Lab

Congratulations to Dr. Alejandra Fernandez on her Collins Medical Trust (CMT) award. OHSU submitted 13 proposals and Alejandra’s was one of four selected.

Dr. Fernandez studies how sensory neurons in the peripheral nervous system – those then convey information about pain, itch, temperature, body position, and touch – develop in the context of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Using mouse models, Alejandra is defining how mutations in genes associated with ASD modify the development and function of sensory neurons.

This grant will support Alejandra’s work for the next year.