$1.3 million grant to Brown to expand research on the role of blood-brain barrier in decision making
By Nicole Maranhas, Associate Director of Strategic
Communications for the Carney Institute for Brain Science,
The research, which aims to shed light on the potential role
of the blood-brain barrier in decision making, may provide valuable insights
into treating brain diseases and disorders and reveal ways that the protective
barrier is more dynamic than currently understood.
Led by Professor of Brain Science Christopher Moore,
associate director of the Carney
Institute for Brain Science at Brown University, the research team has
found that blood vessels send signals through “plume events” that allow flashes
of permeability across the otherwise highly restrictive barrier, which blocks
toxins and harmful molecules from entering the brain.
“These moments when the blood-brain barrier opens allow the
blood vessels to send signals where they are needed, and only when the risk is
worth the reward,” Moore said.
The new grant-funded research will build on emerging
knowledge that cell types beyond neurons — including endothelial cells that
line blood vessels — contribute to brain function.
“Mammalian brains evolved to make complex choices,” Moore
said. “The blood carries a rich range of signals from the body, so it makes
sense that your brain might sample this information during moments of learning
and choice in order to make those computations.”
Prior to the team’s research, it was unclear how the
blood-brain barrier — thought to be mostly restrictive and only capable of
slow, delayed transmissions — could relay signals in real time for decision
making. According to Moore, plume events resolve this paradox.
EDITOR'S NOTE: While this $1.3 million grant from a private foundation is no doubt welcome, Donald Trump has refused to pay more than $45 million for work already performed by Brown researchers from federal grants that have already been awarded. Trump has also cancelled at least $8 million in grants and is either delaying or not renewing millions more. Despite Brown's extensive resources, these cuts exceed the university's ability to absorb and will harm vital health research in service of Trump's culture war against American education. - Will Collette
This new understanding not only suggests a direct role for the blood-brain barrier in bringing information to the brain that can help decision making, but it could also reveal new pathways for getting past the blood-brain barrier and new ways of understanding when it fails.
The researchers previously observed plume events in the cerebral cortex, a region key to perception, language and sensory processing. The goal of the new project is to determine if plume events occur in other brain areas and what types of information they transmit, including the possibility that they provide precisely delivered nutrition or waste-clearing to active brain regions.
In addition, the researchers will investigate the
possible role of the gut microbiome and immune system in regulating the flashes
of blood-brain barrier penetrability.
Understanding the mechanisms of plume events could provide
important insights on natural windows of opportunity to deliver therapeutic
drugs to targets in the brain, a challenge that has made it difficult to treat
brain diseases and disorders, according to Moore.
“One implication of our work is that there are ways to open
the blood-brain barrier selectively, timed to exactly when drug delivery is
needed,” Moore said.
Plume events could lead to new biomarkers and targets for
treating illnesses such as depression and Alzheimer’s disease, both diseases
that are associated with an altered blood-brain barrier.
“This new understanding not only suggests a direct role for
the blood-brain barrier in bringing information to the brain that can help
decision making, but it could also reveal new pathways for getting past the
blood-brain barrier and new ways of understanding when it fails,” Moore said.
Scientists from the Carney Institute for Brain Science and
affiliated departments at the University will contribute to the research,
including from the Department of Neuroscience, the Department of Molecular and
Cellular Biology, the Department of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences and
the School of Engineering.
The W. M. Keck Foundation was established in 1954 in Los
Angeles by William Myron Keck, the founder of the Superior Oil Company. The
foundation supports science, engineering and medical research, as well as
undergraduate education, and maintains a program within Southern California to
support arts and culture, education, health and community service projects.
