Brain’s master switch may help understand several disorders

WASHINGTON - A protein long suspected to be the master switch that activates the brain has been identified, and it may be useful in understanding brain malfunctions such as autism, epilepsy and others.

Yeon-Kyun Shin, professor of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology at Iowa State University, has shown that the protein called synaptotagmin1 (Syt1) is the sole trigger for the release of neurotransmitters in the brain.

Neurotransmitters are endogenous (originating within) chemicals which relay, amplify, and modulate signals between a neuron and another cell.

“We are trying to show in the laboratory that Syt1 is the real one,” Shin said.

Shin, who has been looking at this brain activity for 15 years, is happy about the discovery.

He believes his discovery may be useful in understanding brain malfunctions such as autism, epilepsy and others, an Iowa State University release said.

“We are quite excited that for the first time we are showing that Syt1 is really what triggers the signal in the brain,” he said. “This is a really important thing in terms of neurosciences. This is the heart of the molecular part of the brain function.”

Shin’s research is published in the current issue of Science.