The Developing Brain Needs Cholesterol

Producing the neurotransmitter dopamine outside the brain is one of the main goals in medicine today, but devising setups for this, as in creating dopamine-producing neurons, has proven to be extremely difficult. Now, this goal may be one step closer to reality, thanks to a new study by experts at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet. They've shown in a study on mice that the cholesterol derivate oxysterol is of great importance for promoting neuron growth, AlphaGalileo reports.

In charge of the investigation has been Professor Ernest Arenas. Details of the investigation appear in the latest issue of the scientific journal Stem Cell. The main highlight is that the development of dopamine-producing neurons in the brain of mice is boosted by the activation of a specific receptor in the brain. This receptor responds to oxysterol, which is an oxidized form of cholesterol. This type of neurons is extremely important for the brain of humans and other animals, as it plays an essential role in many functions and processes, including motor skills, reward systems, and dependency.

“Oxysterol contributes to a safer and better cultivation of dopamine-producing cells, which is a great advancement since it increases the possibility of developing new treatments for Parkinson's disease,” the expert explains. Additionally, he shares, research conducted by his team has shown that oxysterol-treated, embryonic stem cells develop into more dopamine-producing neurons in lab dishes. Moreover, the stem cells exhibit a reduced tendency of growing out of control, as they do when no oxysterol is added.

One of the most important future applications for this study, the paper shows, will be to constitute the basis for new treatments against mental conditions such as Parkinson's. In a future setup, the dead brain cells of patients suffering from this debilitating condition could be replaced by artificially grown, dopamine-producing neurons, grown in the lab from the patients' own stem cells. Another possible use would be the development of complex tissues in the lab, on which new Parkinson's drugs could be tested, Arenas concludes.