Research Roundup: Atlas Antibodies in Neuroscience
Primary antibodies are a powerful tool in basic research. In our new research roundup dedicated to neuroscience, we talk about a mechanism responsible for drug resistance in epileptic patients and a newly discovered and evolutionarily conserved feature of oligodendrocytes. Read more about these 3 new publications.
1. What causes drug resistance in epileptic patients?
Epilepsy is one of the primary neurological diseases and affects over 50 million people worldwide. Unfortunately, despite the continuing discoveries of new anticonvulsant drugs, 30% of all epileptic patients are drug-resistant.
Drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE or refractory epilepsy) is a term used to describe when anti-epileptic drugs have failed to control seizures.
Several mechanisms have been hypothesized to explain the processes occurring in the epileptogenic brain zones of DRE patients, including cellular death associated with high numbers of tetraploid neurons and astrocytes, as reported in a new study by Sanz-García et al. (2022).
Results show that the percentage of tetraploid astrocytes (NDRG2-positive) was higher in epilepsy patients' hippocampus than in the controls. Interestingly, no differences were found in NDRG2-labeled tetraploid astrocytes in other epileptogenic zones such as the cortex and amygdala, compared to the controls.
This study has changed our understanding of the causes of DRE by showing that tetraploid neurons and astrocytes are significantly increased in DRE, more precisely in the temporal lobe epilepsy involving the hippocampal region of the brain. So, understanding the role of these cells in the pathogenesis of epilepsy could pave the way to new treatment lines for DRE patients.
The anti-NDRG2 antibody HPA002896 (Atlas Antibodies) was used in the study for the tetraploidy analysis as a marker protein of differentiated astrocytes.
Reference: Sanz-García et al. (2022) Neuronal and astrocytic tetraploidy is increased in drug-resistant epilepsy.
Featured Product: Anti-NDRG2 Triple A Polyclonal™ antibody HPA002896 (manufactured by Atlas Antibodies, Sweden)