By Ginger Hall Carnes
\nMartin Paukert, M.D., is on the cutting edge of working with cells that have long been under-appreciated, yet could play a role in our ability to pay attention and help slow the progression of Alzheimer\u2019s disease or eventually prevent onset of the disease.<\/p>\n
Dr. Paukert, who joined the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine in December 2013, has an eight-person lab focusing on astroglia cells and how they interact with neurons in the brain. He was awarded a five-year, $2 million grant from the Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation in 2015.<\/p>\n
Most people have heard of neurons, which are the electrically active cells of the brain, but few are familiar with glial cells. \u201cSubstantial methods for studying electrical activity in neurons have been available for more than half a century; in contrast, optical and genetic means applicable to studies of glial cell function have rapidly emerged only during the recent decade,\u201d said Dr. Paukert, assistant professor in the Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology.<\/p>\n
\u201cGlial cells undergo dynamics in a rich repertoire of signaling molecules during awake behavior, yet they are often not considered in models of healthy brain function. That is why we want to study them and understand how they interface with neurons in health and disease,\u201d he said. For many years glial cells have been regarded as \u201cpassive cells that fill the space, provide energy and are responsible for other housekeeping functions for neurons,\u201d but in recent years researchers have been finding increasing evidence that the glial cells play a more active role during brain development as well as throughout life, Dr. Paukert added.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our case, we want to understand how these cells interact with each other, what goes wrong, so that one could potentially develop ways to influence their interactions with neurons and slow down disease processes or, ideally, prevent them from happening.\u201d Using genetically engineered mice, researchers are studying how the brain works differently when the animals are \u201cawake but resting,\u201d such as sitting still on a treadmill, or \u201cactively engaged\u201d in locomotion on a treadmill.<\/p>\n
Dr. Paukert is especially grateful to be sharing expertise with Manzoor Bhat, Ph.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology. \u201cHis research also is focusing on the interactions between a different kind of glia and neurons which allow neurons to transmit signals long distances, so he has a similar interest from a different angle. That is one of the aspects that attracted me to San Antonio,\u201d he said. \u201cStudying glia is still an evolving, novel field, and we expect to uncover the fundamentals of the importance of various glial cells for modulating neuronal function and survival in an intact animal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UT Health San Antonio research team focusing on astroglia cells, which may hold the answer to slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"magazine":[22],"issue-year":[20],"featured-story":[],"class_list":["post-942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","magazine-future","issue-year-20"],"yoast_head":"\n