Whats to know about Executive Functions and Diet?

New research has found higher levels of an enzyme that creates an enzyme complex known as ventilator complex 1 (VCC1) in neurons that are essential for cutting nerve endings the islets of the pancreas. The study is one of the most complete studies of this type to date. Its results are published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Genetics.

It has long been known that the human version of the mouse version of the enzyme ventilator complex 1 (VCC1) is found in the pancreatic islets where it participates in the formation of a complex with cells called a chaperone that transports and stores glucose into nerve cells. The results of the study led by researchers from Aix-Marseille Universit Spain and supported by the Fondation Neuzen Biomedicinellungsbereitung (BlohmCiel Diabetes Center the German Diabetes Center in Heidelberg and the CSIC-ETH) suggest that VCC1 activities may be linked to the development of Type 2 diabetes. The single-unit CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tool allows to disable for a very short time the functioning of the enzyme complex. Attempts were made to avoid this.

Electrical activity of nerve cells is regulated by a molecular machinery (called the LNG) using electricity. Scientific studies have shown that the LNG of brain cells regulates molecular electrical activity. In order to study changes in voltage of neuronal nerve cells and to understand VCC1 activity in cells important for processing food intake the researchers injected VCC1 in precursors capable of terminating the slow electrical activity. They implanted VCC1-proteins that interfere with the electrical activity of these cells. Analyses showed that these cells saw changes in voltage of action potentials that were not present in unaltered cells. They also found that the cells showed reduced glial activation and increased blood glucose uptake.

The use of cell-signaling proteins as a model organism is not new. Microglia have been studied for many years. Yet there have been no serious studies on cell proliferation and immunity stress-induced changes in blood glucose levels and metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes. A study based on transgenic mice the first animal model in which the enzyme activity is developed by gene editing was published in Nature Immunology in 2015. Scientists around the world therefore immediately began to investigate the impact of this pathway on neurons. This study is the first to use VCC1 to examine the impact of VCC1 activation on neurons.

By using VCC1 as a model organism we can gain valuable insight into the structure and function of new feedback transducer proteins given the targeting approach (which allows us to control for expression of feedback genes that can provide beneficial effects) says first author Kalyani Sonawane first author of this study.