{"id":2530,"date":"2015-04-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vermont.salk.edu\/news-release\/food-for-thought-master-protein-enhances-learning-and-memory\/"},"modified":"2015-04-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-07T07:00:00","slug":"food-for-thought-master-protein-enhances-learning-and-memory","status":"publish","type":"disclosure","link":"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/de\/news-release\/food-for-thought-master-protein-enhances-learning-and-memory\/","title":{"rendered":"Food for thought: Master protein enhances learning and memory"},"content":{"rendered":"

LA JOLLA\u2013Just as some people seem built to run marathons and have an easier time going for miles without tiring, others are born with a knack for memorizing things, from times tables to trivia facts. These two skills\u2013running and memorizing\u2013are not so different as it turns out.\n<\/p>\n

\nSalk scientists and collaborators have discovered that physical and mental activities rely on a single metabolic protein that controls the flow of blood and nutrients throughout the body, as reported in the journal Cell Metabolism<\/a><\/em>. The new study could point to potential treatments in regenerative and developmental medicine as well as ways to address defects in learning and memory.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis is all about getting energy where it\u2019s needed to \u2018the power plants\u2019 in the body,\u201d says Ronald Evans<\/a>, director of Salk\u2019s Genexpressionslabor<\/a> and senior author of the new paper, published April 7, 2015. \u201cThe heart and muscles need a surge of energy to carry out exercise and neurons need a surge of energy to form new memories.\u201d\n\t<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Salk researchers and collaborators discovered that physical and mental activities rely on a single metabolic protein, ERR\u03b3, that controls the flow of blood and nutrients throughout the body. In this image, ERR\u03b3 is shown (stained red) in the hippocampus, the area of the brain largely responsible for memory. The new work could point to a way to enhance learning.<\/p>\n

Klicken Sie hier<\/a> f\u00fcr ein hochaufl\u00f6sendes Bild.<\/p>\n

\n\tBild: Mit freundlicher Genehmigung des Salk Institute for Biological Studies\n\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tEnergy for muscles and brains, the scientists discovered, is controlled by a single protein called estrogen-related receptor gamma (ERR\u03b3). Evans\u2019 research group has previously studied the role of ERR\u03b3 in the heart and skeletal muscles. In 2011, they discovered that promoting ERR\u03b3 activity in the muscle of sedentary mice increased blood supply to their muscles<\/a> and doubled their running capacity. ERR\u03b3, they went on to show, turns on a whole host of muscle genes that convert fat to energy.\n\t<\/p>\n

\nThus, ERR\u03b3 became known as a master metabolic switch that energized muscle to enhance performance. Although studies had also shown that ERR\u03b3 was active in the brain, researchers didn\u2019t understand why\u2013the brain burns sugar and ERR\u03b3 was previously shown to only burn fat. So the team decided to look more closely at what the protein was doing in brain cells.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBy first looking at isolated neurons, Liming Pei, lead and co-corresponding author of the paper, found that, as in muscle, ERR\u03b3 activates dozens of metabolic genes in brain cells. Unexpectedly, this activation related to sugar instead of fat. Neurons that lacked ERR\u03b3 could not ramp up energy production and thus had a compromised performance.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe assumed that ERR\u03b3 did the same thing throughout the body,\u201d says Evans. \u201cBut we learned that it\u2019s different in the brain.\u201d ERR\u03b3, they now conclude, turns on fat-burning pathways in muscles and sugar-burning pathways in the brain.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tEvans and his collaborators noticed that ERR\u03b3 in live mice was most active in the hippocampus\u2013an area of the brain that is active in producing new brain cells, is involved in learning and memory and is known to require lots of energy. They wondered whether ERR\u03b3 had a direct role in learning and memory. By studying mice lacking ERR\u03b3 in the brain, they found a link. <\/p>\n

\n\tWhile mice without the protein had normal vision, movement and balance, they were slower at learning how to swim through a water maze\u2013and poor at remembering the maze on subsequent trials\u2013compared to mice with normal levels of ERR\u03b3. <\/p>\n

\n\u201cWhat we found is that mice that missing ERR\u03b3 are basically very slow learners,\u201d says Pei. Varying levels of ERR\u03b3 could also be at the root of differences between how individual humans learn, he hypothesizes. \u201cEveryone can learn, but some people learn and memorize more efficiently than others, and we now think this could be linked to changes in brain metabolism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA better understanding of the metabolism of neurons could help point the way to improved treatments for learning and attention disorders. And possibly, revving up levels of ERR\u03b3 could even enhance learning, just as it enhances muscle function. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat we\u2019ve shown is that memories are really built on a metabolic scaffold,\u201d says Evans. \u201cAnd we think that if you want to understand learning and memory, you need to understand the circuits that underlie and power this process.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\nOther researchers on the study were Yangling Mu, Mathias Leblanc, William Alaynick, Matthew Pankratz, Tiffany W. Tseng, Samantha Kaufman, Ruth T. Yu, Michael Downes, Samuel L. Pfaff, and Fred H. Gage, all of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies; Liming Pei of the University of Pennsylvania<\/a>; Grant D. Barish of Northwestern University<\/a>; Christopher Liddle of the University of Sydney<\/a>; and Johan Auwerx of Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe work was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute<\/>, der Nationale Gesundheitsinstitute<\/a>, der Die gemeinn\u00fctzige Stiftung von Leona M. und Harry B. Helmsley<\/a>, der Ellison Medical Foundation<\/a> und Glenn Stiftung f\u00fcr medizinische Forschung<\/a>, der Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia<\/a> und die
\nPenn Medicine Neuroscience Center<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\u00dcber das Salk Institute for Biological Studies:<\/strong>
\nDas Salk Institute for Biological Studies ist eine der weltweit f\u00fchrenden Institutionen f\u00fcr Grundlagenforschung, wo international anerkannte Fakult\u00e4tsmitglieder in einem einzigartigen, kooperativen und kreativen Umfeld grundlegende Fragen der Lebenswissenschaften erforschen. Mit Fokus auf sowohl Entdeckungen als auch die Ausbildung zuk\u00fcnftiger Forschergenerationen leisten Salk-Wissenschaftler bahnbrechende Beitr\u00e4ge zu unserem Verst\u00e4ndnis von Krebs, Altern, Alzheimer, Diabetes und Infektionskrankheiten durch die Erforschung von Neurowissenschaften, Genetik, Zell- und Pflanzenbiologie sowie verwandten Disziplinen.<\/p>\n

Faculty achievements have been recognized with numerous honors, including Nobel Prizes and memberships in the National Academy of Sciences. Founded in 1960 by polio vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk, MD., the Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","faculty":[91],"disease-research":[146],"class_list":["post-2530","disclosure","type-disclosure","status-publish","hentry","faculty-ronald-evans","disease-research-aging-and-regenerative-medicine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFood for thought: Master protein enhances learning and memory - Salk Institute for Biological Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/de\/news-release\/food-for-thought-master-protein-enhances-learning-and-memory\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"de_DE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Food for thought: Master protein enhances learning and memory - Salk Institute for Biological Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LA JOLLA\u2013Just as some people seem built to run marathons and have an easier time going for miles without tiring, others are born with a knack for memorizing things, from times tables to trivia facts. 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