WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A study, published in Nature Methods, revealed that a newly developed protein-based tool could help scientists in exploring the effects of psychedelics on brain neurons, helping them in treatment of brain disorders like PTSD and depression.
The tool called Ca2+-activated Split-TurboID, or CaST, can track the neurons and biomolecules activated by psychedelic drugs, a group of substances capable of enhancing or altering perceptions, thoughts, and energy levels.
The research, led by Christina Kim and David Olson, uses the tool to track calcium concentration, which is a standard marker for neuron activity. If neurons are highly active, then the intracellular calcium concentration would increase.
'We designed these proteins in the lab that can be packaged into DNA and then put into harmless adeno-associated viruses,' Kim explained.
'Once we deliver the CaST tool and these proteins into neurons, then they incubate inside the cells and start expressing.'
The non-invasive tool, developed by researchers at University of California Davis, tracks the molecular processes behind psychedelics' benefits quickly in just 10 to 30 minutes, instead of the usual hours.
During the study, the researchers gave psilocybin, a psychedelic drug, to mice. They used the tool to study the calcium concentration levels in the prefrontal cortex, an area of brain associated with brain disorders.
'What's nice about CaST is that it can be used in a freely behaving animal,' Kim said as other tagging methods require heads to be stable to take high-quality images. 'Biotin is also a great tagging substrate because there are many pre-existing commercial tools that can report whether biotin is present or not just by a simple staining and imaging method,' she added.
Researchers are now working on developing the tool further to achieve brain-wide cellular labeling, leading to better treatments for brain disorders.
'We can send those samples to the UC Davis Proteomics Core Facility and they can give us an unbiased picture of all the proteins we identified,' Kim said.
'We want to examine their entire contents in terms of what proteins they express, what genes they express, and try to see what's different in psilocybin-treated animals versus control animals or animal models of diseases.'
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