“The transporters are like bouncers at a club, only letting molecules with invites or backstage passes in,” says first author Rosemary J. Cater, PhD, a Simons Society Fellow in the Mancia Lab at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

This study focuses on transporter or bouncer called MFSD2A present in the omega-3s that helps to infiltrate the blood-brain barrier using a technique called single-particle cryo-electron microscopy to understand the shape and functioning at the molecular level.

The 3D model of the protein built using these inputs act as a starting point to run computational simulations that reveal the transporter moves and its shape adaptation to release omega-3s into the brain.

This study gives tremendous insight into how MFSD2A delivers omega-3s to the brain and future research on the transporter recognizing the omega-3s from the bloodstream can help in clinical trials of delivering neurological drugs to the brain.

Source: Medindia