Critical Creatine Popular Muscle Supplement to brain function

Summary: Creatine is well known for its role in muscle energy, but is also critical for brain function and development. In people with creatine deficiency disorders, supplements often do not improve neurological development because the brain protective barrier blocks access.

Researchers are developing a novel technique to administer creatine directly to the brain, avoiding this barrier to restore normal brain function. Early work is promising to improve brain health in conditions that currently leave many with cognitive challenges for life.

Key facts

Creatine brain paper: creatine is essential for energy production in brain cells and supports functions such as memory, learning and control of seizures. Deficiency impact: people with creatine deficiencies often improve muscle mass with supplements, but continue to fight with severe neurological development impediments.

Source: Virginia Tech

Creatine is popularly known as a muscle construction supplement, but its influence on human muscle function can be a matter of life or death.

“Creatine is very crucial for cells that consume energy in skeletal muscle throughout the body, but also in the brain and in the heart,” said Chin-Yi Chen, a research scientist at the Biomedical Research Institute Falin de Virginia Tech in VTC.

Chen is part of a research team that works to develop a technique that uses ultrasound focused to deliver creatine directly to the brain. The work, carried out in the laboratory of the Biomedical Research Institute of Fralin, the assistant professor of the Research Institute, Cheng-Chia, “Fred” WU, will be supported by a subsidy of $ 30,000 of the Association of Creatine Deficiencies.

Creatine plays a vital role in the brain, where it interacts with phosphoric acid to help create adenosine triphosphate, an essential molecule for energy production in living cells. In addition to its role in energy production, creatine also influences neurotransmitter systems.

For example, creatine influences the main inhibitory pathways of the brain that use gamma-aminobutiric neurotransmitter acid, which limits neuronal excitability in the central nervous system. You can play a role in a variety of functions, including the control of seizures, learning, memory and brain development.

A growing research body suggests that creatine can function as a neurotransmitter, since it is administered to the neurons of glial cells in the brain and can influence signaling processes among other neurons. While creatine deficiency disorders can weaken skeletal muscle and heart, they can also severely affect the brain.

Many patients see the increase in muscle mass and body weight with creatine supplements, but often continue to face neurodevelopmental challenges that can make their ability to speak, read or write.

This is largely caused by the protective barrier of the brain’s blood brain. This selective shield prevents harmful substances such as toxins and pathogens from entering brain tissue, but can also prevent beneficial compounds such as creatine from reaching the brain when the levels are low.

WU studies therapeutic focused ultrasound, which accurately directs the sound waves to the areas of the brain to which access has been temporarily opened. The process allows drugs to reach the sick tissue without damaging the surrounding healthy cells. While WU is investigating this method as a potential treatment for pediatric brain cancer, it also sees the potential to apply it to creatine deficiency.

“Through the association between Virginia Tech and Children’s National Hospital, I was able to present our ultrasound work focused on the National Child Research and Innovation Campus,” Wu said.

“There, I met Dr. Seth Berger, a medical geneticist, who introduced me to creatine transporter deficiency. Together, we saw the promise that the focused ultrasound had to offer.”

The Focused Ultrasound Foundation has recognized Virginia Tech and Children’s National as Centers of Excellence. Wu said the two organizations gather clinical specialists, experts in rehearsals and research scientists who can design experiments that can inform future clinical trials.

“It was a moment that really excited me, that I had found a laboratory in which I could go from basic investigation to something that could help patients,” Chen said.

“When Fred asked me: ‘Are you interested in this project?’ I said: ‘Yes, of course,’ “

Because creatine deficiencies can affect the development of the brain, the early stages of Chen’s project will concentrate on using ultrasound focused to administer creatine through the blood cell barrier. Chen expects the technique to restore normal brain mass in creatine deficiency models.

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Author: Leight Anne Kelley
Source: Virginia Tech
Contact: Leight Anne Kelley – Virginia Tech
Image: The image is accredited to Neuroscience News