Cienciaes.com: Survival or death of neurons. Today we talk with Joaquín Jordán Bueso.

2014-07-05 13:45:51

A cell is very little compared to the multitude of billions with “b” of cells that make up our body. The life or death of one of them is usually irrelevant to the functioning of the whole; in fact, every day hundreds of billions of cells die and the same number are born in a healthy adult person, without them noticing it in the slightest.

Now, not all cells are the same. Some die every day and are replaced immediately, but others are for life and there is no replacement for them or, if there is, it is only in very specific cases. Neurons belong to this last class, those specialized cells that connect the different parts of the body, that control the movement of our muscles, that capture and transmit sensory sensations or that construct our thoughts and memories. When neurons fail or die in significant numbers, as there is no replacement, the result can be dramatic.

Our guest today, Joaquín Jordán BuesoResearcher in the Department of Medical Sciences, Pharmacology Area of ​​the University of Castilla-LaMancha, investigates the processes that lead to the death of neurons in those people who, as a consequence, suffer from neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s .

There are several types of neurons and depending on which ones fail in a person, the consequences will be like this. In Parkinson’s disease, for example, the neurons that fail are found in a part of the brain that controls muscle movements. They are neurons that produce a chemical substance called dopamine involved in sending signals that help coordinate your movements. As a consequence, patients have uncontrolled tremors in their hands, face and other parts of the body, their muscles become stiffer, they have slow movements, etc.

Other diseases result from the deterioration or death of other neurons. This is how disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease arise, where the affected neurons are responsible for functions such as memory and other mental abilities. After all, if neurons with their connections are the ones that weave our memories, when they die, the memories disappear with them.

One of the main objectives of the research carried out by the team led by Joaquín Jordán Bueso is to study the chemical signals that induce neuronal cells to make the decision to try to repair the damage and survive or, on the contrary, give up and cause their own death (apoptosis). Knowing these mechanisms is essential to understand the origin and evolution of neurodegenerative diseases, knowledge that can open the way to the discovery of new drugs and therapies that help tip the balance of neurons towards survival, thus avoiding irreparable loss of nerve cells, with all the consequences that this entails.

We invite you to listen to D. Joaquín Jordán Bueso.