2024-01-09 02:30:33
At the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Professor Heo Won-do’s team in the Department of Biological Sciences, along with Professor Kwon Hyeong-bae’s team at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the United States, and Dr. Lee Sang-gyu’s research team at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) Cognition and Sociality Research Center, were able to observe the formation, extinction, and changes of brain synapses in real time for the first time in the world. It was announced on the 9th that it had developed a technology that could
In our brain, there are about 86 billion nerve cells and 600 trillion synapses that exchange signals between nerve cells and help regulate various brain functions such as our cognition, emotions, and memory. Synapses are known to decrease during aging or diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, but there are limitations in observing structural changes in real time.
Professor Heo Won-do’s research team developed a technology to observe the synaptic connection process between nerve cells by combining fluorescent protein (ddFP) with synapses. This technology was named ‘SynapShot’, a combination of Synapse and Snapshot. We succeeded in tracking and observing the process of synapse formation, extinction, and dynamic change in real time, which was previously difficult to implement.
In collaboration with the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), the research team designed a green and red fluorescent synapse to easily distinguish synapses connected to two different nerve cells, and used optogenetics to control molecular functions with light. By combining technology, we controlled specific functions of nerve cells with light and simultaneously observed changes in synapses.
In addition, in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the United States, we induced various situations such as visual discrimination training, exercise, and anesthesia in living mice and observed changes in synapses in real time during each process, confirming that each synapse can change quite quickly and dynamically.
This is the world’s first observation of synaptic changes in a living mammal. Professor Heo Won-do said, “This technology is expected to bring innovation to the methodology of brain science research.” The results of this study were published in the online edition of the international academic journal ‘Nature Method’ on the 8th, and are scheduled to be published in the February print edition.
Hello Tea reporter Lee Chang-hyeon |
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