A protein that allows brain cells to dampen their sensitivity is found

Strengthening and weakening the connections between neurons, known as synapses, is vital to the brain's development and everyday function. In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron or nerve cell to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron. It is important for the brain's development and common function in every day. By swallowing up receptors on the surfaces that respond to glutamate which is the brain's excitatory chemicals, neurons weaken the synapses.

MIT neuroscientists just published a new study, explaining how the receptor reabsorption happens, allowing neurons to avoid undesired connections and to dampen their sensitivity in cases of overexcitation.

"Pulling in and putting out receptors is a dynamic process, and it's highly regulated by a neuron's environment," Elly Nedivi says. Nedivi is a professor of brain and cognitive sciences and member of MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. The understanding of how receptors are pulled in and how regulatory pathways impact that has been quite poor. They found a protein, known as CPG2, is critical to this regulation. It is notable, for mutations in the human version of CPG2 have been previously linked to bipolar disorder. This sets the stage for testing various human mutations and their impact at the cellular level, according to Nedivi.

Read more if you're interested: http://www.cusabio.com/Recombinant-Protein/Recombinant-human-HLA-DMA-protein-11089636.html