2017/02/07
Keio University School of Medicine
A research group from the Department of Anatomy, Keio University School of Medicine, led by Professor Kazunori Nakajima, graduate student Yuki Matsunaga from the Graduate School of Medicine, and former Project Assistant Professor Mariko Noda from the School of Medicine, has discovered a new “mechanism” by which neurons strengthen their adhesion to each other and assemble during brain formation. This research was conducted in collaboration with Kyushu University and Nagoya University.
In the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for higher brain functions such as perception, thought, and memory, neurons are neatly arranged in six layers. It has recently attracted attention that the improper formation of this layered structure during development may underlie various psychiatric and neurological disorders. While it was known that a protein called Reelin is essential for the correct formation of this layered structure, the details of Reelin's function remained unclear.
Professor Nakajima's research group discovered that Reelin temporarily strengthens the adhesion between neurons, identified its molecular mechanism, and revealed that this phenomenon is crucial for the correct formation of the brain's layered structure.
Reelin has been implicated not only in brain formation but also in many psychiatric and neurological disorders, such as schizophrenia, autism, and epilepsy. The findings of this study are expected to provide valuable information for understanding the pathophysiology of and treating these disorders.
The results of this research were published in the American general academic journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America" during the week of February 6 (US Eastern Time). (For immediate release.)
Please see below for the full press release.