Скачать или смотреть Super-Chilled Brain Cell Molecules Reveal How Epilepsy Drug Works

By super cooling a molecule on the surface of brain cells, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have determined how a widely-used epilepsy drug works to dampen the excitability of brain cells and help to control, although not cure, seizures.
To study the mechanism, the researchers turned to cryo-electron microscopy, or cryoEM, which has evolved in the last two decades as a powerful tool to study structures a million times smaller than the width of a human hair.
The research identifies critical connections between activity of the epilepsy drug perampanel and the resulting movements of a brain cell surface molecule known as the AMPA receptor.
The AMPA receptor plays a critical role for one of the most abundant neurotransmitters in the brain — glutamate — which activates brain cells, or neurons, by connecting with the receptor.
The scientists used artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to average and combine the cryoEM images into a 3D reconstruction of the receptor.
The video shows the structure of the AMPA receptor, how glutamate (green) and the epilepsy drug/inhibitor (pink) connect with the receptor and its ion channels.