The mechanism to prevent the programmed death of nerve cells is deciphered

Nerve cells will die. An international research team consisting of Charlotte Medical University in Berlin and McMaster University in Canada discovered a new mechanism to prevent cell death. The results of the study were published in the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Short-term hypoxia can be used as a training for human cells. As a result, they can survive longer periods of hypoxia-so to speak, they are "ready". In addition, it is now known that lack of oxygen also affects sugar metabolism. However, so far, glucose metabolism and programmed cell death have been regarded as independent events.

Cell survival is regulated by a key enzyme in sugar metabolism (the so-called hexokinase-2, hexokinase-2), which changes glucose in a way that the cell can handle. The researchers found that hexokinase-2 is activated in the brain's hypoxic nerve cells. This situation occurs when a person has a stroke (a disorder of blood circulation in the brain), which results in insufficient supply of oxygen and nutrients in the brain, and hexokinase-2 then plays a protective role. "The self-protection effect of this nerve cell presents an important basic mechanism, and in-depth research on this mechanism may develop some optimized stroke therapies," Meisel said.

However, the molecular mechanisms of hypoxia and changes in cellular metabolism not only play a role in stroke, but are also very important in the development of tumors and the defense of the immune system against infections. Accordingly, this enzyme is responsible for changes in glucose metabolism in malignant tumors. However, if the glucose supply is insufficient and the oxygen supply is normal, it can also lead to cell death. "Understanding how glucose metabolism regulates the underlying mechanism of cell death may be used to prevent stroke, and it can also be used to selectively cause malignant tumor cell death," Mergenthaler explained. The mechanism by which glucose metabolism regulates cell death fundamentally expands the basic medical knowledge of many diseases.

The research team led by Philipp Mergenthaler and Andreas Meisel, two scientists working together at NeuroCure at Charlotte Medical University, now explains the connection between these two processes. (Remarks: NeuroCure is an interdisciplinary research alliance established by Charlotte Medical University, dedicated to neuroscience research, funded by the German federal and state governments.

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