By super cooling a molecule on the surface of brain cells down to about minus 180 degrees Celsius — nearly twice as cold as the coldest places in Antarctica — scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have determined how a widely-used epilepsy drug works to dampen the excitability of brain cells and help to control, although not cure, seizures. The research, published June 4 in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, identifies critical connections between activity of the epilepsy drug perampanel and the resulting movements of the AMPA receptor — a brain cell surface molecule. The researchers say the findings could eventually help with designing new drugs that target the receptor to treat other neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, learning disabilities, brain cancers called glioblastoma and chronic pain. The AMPA receptor plays a critical role for one of the brain’s most abundant neurotransmitters — glutamate — which activates brain...
