{"id":33392,"date":"2019-09-17T16:25:25","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T20:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parkinsonpost.com\/?p=2622"},"modified":"2019-09-17T16:25:25","modified_gmt":"2019-09-17T20:25:25","slug":"revealing-the-true-face-of-a-brain-cell-invader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/revealing-the-true-face-of-a-brain-cell-invader\/","title":{"rendered":"Revealing the true face of a brain cell invader"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"
Maxime Rousseaux, Professor
University of Ottawa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The protein alpha-synuclein works its way into cells occupying parts of the brain affected by Parkinson\u2019s disease as well as those cells in other parts of the brain that remain healthy. This observation has led researchers like Maxime Rousseaux at the University of Ottawa to consider whether this protein\u2019s presence is harmful or helpful. The research is made possible through a New Investigator Award from Parkinson Canada Research Program for $90,000 over 2 years. He intends to resolve this question with a search for the mechanism that leads to this protein toxicity in those brain cells. The result promises to shed new light on the connection between genetic mutations associated with Parkinson\u2019s and the specific behaviour of this protein. <\/p>\n

After knowing people who were afflicted with neurodegenerative disorders while he was growing up, Maxime Rousseaux later encountered an even wider range of such patients through his university studies. Among his mentors was Dr. Michael Schlossmacher, whose Ottawa movement disorders clinic became an informal classroom where Rousseaux learned more about the human face of this condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met a lot of the individuals in the
\ncommunity and got really attached\u2014not only emotionally invested but also it
\nfelt like a sense of duty to work on the disease,\u201d says Rousseaux, now a
\nprofessor at the University of Ottawa. \u201cThat\u2019s been with me for the past 12
\nyears.\u201d<\/p>\n

This experience led him to focus on a
\nparticular brain protein called alpha-synuclein, which was first discovered
\ndecades ago and named for its localization at the synapses between brain cells
\nand within the nucleus of those same cells. <\/p>\n

This protein has also characterized as a
\ncontaminant that disrupts the function of brain cells and initiates the nervous
\nsystem breakdown that defines Parkinson\u2019s. Although that conclusion is
\nsupported by the substantial amounts of alpha-synuclein that are found in the
\nareas of the brain where this breakdown is under way, Rousseaux notes that
\nalpha-synuclein can also be found in cells in parts of the brain that remain unaffected.
\nThat finding leads the neuroscientist to wonder if the protein\u2019s function is
\nmore subtle than it appears to be. <\/p>\n

\u201cIs alpha-synuclein in the nucleus toxic,
\nis it protective?\u201d he asks. \u201cWe think it\u2019s toxic in the nucleus and our work
\nwill test that hypothesis once and for all in the context of this pathology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rousseaux
\nis grateful to receive a New Investigator Award from the Parkinson Canada
\nResearch Program for $90,000 over 2 years. This latest support
\nfrom Parkinson Canada will make a crucial contribution to answering this
\nquestion by enhancing the resources available to Rousseaux\u2019s laboratory. Other
\nprospective sources of funding for such work would demand a great deal of
\npreliminary data that he would not be able to obtain until his work is more
\nadvanced. With this funding, his research team now has a much greater ability
\nto lay the foundation for better treatment of Parkinson\u2019s patients. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur lab emulates specific
\ngenetic effects and tests their impact on cells, all in a search for the drivers
\nof the molecular changes responsible for Parkinson\u2019s,\u201d he says. \u201cThe results
\nwill inform tailored therapies and promote drug development and pre-clinical
\ntesting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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