Danish researchers identify a schizophrenia “Building Block”
This provides scope for tailoring new therapies to treat a range of psychiatric disorders.
Azadeh Shahsavar, der sammen med professor Poul Nissen har stået i spidsen for forskningsprojektet, har frembragt dette 3D-billede af GlyT1 - en af de biokemiske ’byggeklodser’, som indgår i skizofreni. Billedet er frembragt ved hjælp af krystallografi. Strukturen er på atomniveau.
What does the biochemistry behind schizophrenia look like?
There is no clear answer to this question since schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders are extremely complex.
However, we do have some knowledge of the biochemistry behind some of the mechanisms that play a key role in schizophrenia.
And with a new discovery, recently published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature, a Danish-led, international team of researchers is now able to add a highly significant piece to the schizophrenia puzzle.
Significantly, they also demonstrate how it may be possible to tailor new therapies to treat this exceedingly painful psychiatric disorder.
The researchers made the discovery using crystallography – a technique that creates 3D images of structures at atomic resolution.
The 3D image we’ve managed to create says more than a thousand words
The structure they have examined is a so-called transporter named GlyT1.
This is one of the “building blocks” involved in the development of schizophrenia – a fact that has been known to science for more than 20 years.
However, up to now, a lack of knowledge about the physical properties of the structure – and its basic function – has made it difficult to experiment much with GlyT1 when designing drugs for psychiatric disorders.
‘We have now acquired this knowledge – and we can use it to try to design new therapies to target schizophrenia and other mental disorders,’ says Professor Poul Nissen.
Together with Assistant Professor Azadeh Shahsavar, Professor Nissen headed the study, which received funding from the Lundbeck Foundation, among others.
Both researchers are from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics/DANDRITE at Aarhus University.
Neural Signals
The neural networks in our brain are constantly working. And the brain’s neurotransmitters help the signals pass through the many “wires” of the network.
One of these neurotransmitters is the amino acid glycine, and in the case of schizophrenia, the aim is to increase the level of glycine in the patient's brain.
If we can do that, we should be able to relieve some of the symptoms of the disorder.
This is where GlyT1 – the three-dimensional structure the researchers have now deciphered – comes in.
The function of this structure is to transport and regulate glycine, and by inhibiting GlyT1 it is possible to increase the levels of glycine. This has also been demonstrated in patient trials.
However, trials have not led to the development of new drugs, partly because the researchers lacked the basic knowledge about GlyT1 that has now come to light.
‘The 3D image we’ve managed to create says more than a thousand words. And it gives us lots of ideas for developing new drugs for treating schizophrenia and other mental disorders,’ says Professor Nissen.