Naslov
Agregacija proteina DISC 1 u mentalnim bolestima
(Protein aggregation of DISC 1 in mental illness)

Autori
Tkalčec, Kristin

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Ocjenski radovi, diplomski rad, preddiplomski

Fakultet
Odjel za biotehnologiju

Mjesto
Rijeka

Datum
22.09

Godina
2020

Stranica
44

Mentor
Bradshaw, Nicholas James

Ključne riječi
DISC1 ; mentalne bolesti ; agregacija proteina ; transgenični model štakora
(DISC1 ; mental illness ; protein aggregation ; transgenic rat model)

Sažetak
DISC1 (Disrupted in Schizophrenia) is a protein whose genetic locus is connected to many mental illnesses like schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, and bipolar disorder. DISC1 protein has many roles and is connected to neurogenesis, neurodevelopment, lactate metabolism, synaptic plasticity, dendritic growth, and intracellular trafficking. Its interaction network makes it an interesting target for future therapeutic research. In postmortem brain samples of patients that have schizophrenia or affective disorder phenotypes, scientists detected fractions of DISC1 that are identified as insoluble protein aggregates. Protein aggregation is a biological phenomenon that manifests when misfolded proteins accumulate and clump together either inside or outside of the cell. In order to investigate the DISC1 protein pathology in more detail, scientists developed a transgenic rat model which overexpresses full-length non-mutant human DISC1 in the whole body, including central nervous system. While previous animal models have looked at mutation or knockout of DISC1, this tgDISC1 rat allows us to examine the specific effect of DISC1 protein pathology. Experiments on tgDISC1 rat showed that:1) DISC1 can act as a sensor of oxidative stress in the cytosol and if we regulate its assembly, that leads to some disorder in dopamine homeostasis, 2) misassembly of DISC1 can lead to variety of unrelated morphological phenotypes and 3) aggregation of a nonmutant protein can lead to exacerbation in hippocampal neural circuit function. DISC1 protein aggregation is very important for future experiments. It is well known that DISC1 protein can co-aggregate with other proteins connected to mental illnesses and neurodegenerative diseases, so further research in that field can be of great interest for better treatment of patients and it could also help with detecting mutual links between proteins that can lead to development of such diseases.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Biotehnologija u biomedicini (prirodno područje, biomedicina i zdravstvo, biotehničko područje)

POVEZANOST RADA