Brain protein discovery

New Zealand scientists looking for drugs to treat neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's have discovered a new role in the adult brain for a protein thought to act only in embryos.

The Otago University findings indicate the protein plays an important role in regulating movement-related nerve cells in the brain, without which we could not move or breathe.

The protein could possibly be used to treat certain neurological conditions, the researchers say, although they will not speculate on which ones.

The protein is called mullerian inhibiting substance, MIS.

"We know from all other similar proteins that where they affect one part of the brain they affect other parts of the brain," one of the researchers, Associate Professor Ian McLennan, said yesterday. "We are just in the process of mapping those, which will tell us more precisely which conditions MIS may be important for."

In laboratory tests, the researchers have also shown that MIS can prevent embryonic motor neurons (nerve cells) from dying. This suggests MIS is involved in maintaining the motor, or movement-related, parts of the brain.

The university's company says it would take years of further research and trials before any treatments might become available for use.

The findings were published yesterday in a leading American journal, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.