Iran Press/ America: The research groups of Nasri Nesnas and Roberto Peverati at Florida Tech have now been able to conduct accurate computational studies that revealed important details of how bonds break to release active molecules.
This is extremely valuable to enable future designs of other molecules that can modulate brain signals.
Human brains have an average of 86 billion neurons. These nerve cells are interconnected at junctions known as synapses, and some neurons have as many as 10,000 such synapses. A key to understanding brain function is to have a better grasp of how this non-logical arrangement of complex neurons leads to specific behaviors and cognitive function, including memory storage.
Recent advances that combined chemical applications with neurobiological techniques enabled the use of light as a trigger to turn on specific neurons by activating selected synapses. Chemical groups that effectively leashed active molecules like glutamate (a key molecule in learning and memory) helped control nerve signals by keeping them in an off state.
On-demand, targeted light can unleash the active molecules that lead to turning on neurons, and thus pathways of interest. The key to the success of this procedure is intricately dependent on the efficacy of light at breaking molecular bonds.
Previously, there was little known on the precise mechanism by which light can induce the unleashing of a certain class of molecules referred to as NitroIndolinyl (NI), which represent some of the most efficient light-responsive molecules.
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