https://www.yahoo.com/news/16-old-pocketed-50-000-135300578.htmlNatasha Kulviwat is no ordinary high schooler. Starting last August, she spent six months in the lab at Columbia University studying the brain tissue of people who died by suicide.
Her research investigated if any biomarkers — physical and measurable substances in the brain — might help explain and, perhaps someday, prevent suicide.
https://fluidsbarrierscns.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12987-019-0123-zCytokines create inflammation as a normal part of your immune system's response to pathogens. But your body can also release them when there is no threat — during chronic stress, for example — and that can cause excessive inflammation.
Too much inflammation in the body over time can have many negative effects — it's implicated in conditions like heart disease, cancer, and autoimmune disease. In this case, Kulviwat's research suggests that inflammation affected a specific protein in the brain known as claudin-5.
I have read that chronic stress increases levels of cytokines. It's complicated.Claudin-5 is usually found in cells that make up the blood-brain barrier (BBB) — playing an important role in regulating what substances can pass from the blood into brain cells.
But Kulviwat found elevated levels of claudin-5 in other parts of the brain — in the neurons and microvessels — of those who died by suicide, indicating there was a breakdown of the BBB.
That means foreign agents in the blood can now get into functional areas of the brain, which can be neurotoxic, she said. The results suggest elevated levels of claudin-5 in the brain might serve as a biomarker of suicide risk.
Claudin-5 is a protein that is a component of tight junctions, which are structures that control the passage of molecules between cells in a tissue. It is particularly significant in the blood-brain barrier, where it helps regulate the movement of molecules between the bloodstream and the brain. Studying Claudin-5 is crucial for understanding various neurological disorders and diseases where the blood-brain barrier is compromised, such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and stroke.
The Science Fair winner likely conducted experiments to investigate the role of Claudin-5 in the blood-brain barrier or its potential as a biomarker for certain diseases. This could involve using molecular biology techniques to measure Claudin-5 levels in tissue samples, or perhaps conducting experiments to see how changes in Claudin-5 expression affect barrier function. The specific methods would depend on the resources available and the specific focus of the research project.
Claudin-5 could be considered a potential biomarker because its levels or function might change in association with specific diseases, particularly those affecting the blood-brain barrier. As a biomarker, Claudin-5 could help in diagnosing these diseases or in monitoring their progression or response to therapy. Biomarkers are valuable in medical research and treatment because they can provide a measurable indicator of health or disease state.
While the specific findings would depend on the nature of the project, a Science Fair project on Claudin-5 might have identified correlations between the levels of this protein and certain disease states, or perhaps demonstrated a novel method for measuring or manipulating Claudin-5 in tissue samples. The project could also include findings on how alterations in Claudin-5 affect cellular or tissue functions, which could have implications for disease treatment or prevention strategies.
Research on Claudin-5 could lead to significant advances in medical science, particularly in the treatment of diseases involving the blood-brain barrier. By understanding how Claudin-5 functions and its role in disease, scientists could develop new therapeutic strategies to modulate its expression or function, potentially leading to better management of neurological conditions. Additionally, if Claudin-5 is validated as a biomarker, it could be used in clinical settings to improve diagnosis or monitor the effectiveness of treatments.