Abstract - Microtubules (MTs, protein polymers of tubulin) are very important in a number of cellular processes: they are part of cell cytoskeleton and are involved in cell division and intracellular transport. Their quantum properties inside neurons

نویسندگان

  • R. Pizzi
  • T. Rutigliano
  • A. Ferrarotti
  • M. Pregnolato
چکیده

Microtubules (MTs, protein polymers of tubulin) are very important in a number of cellular processes: they are part of cell cytoskeleton and are involved in cell division and intracellular transport. Their quantum properties inside neurons are also supposed to be involved in the consciousness process. A number of drugs are able to bind to tubulin and MTs and modify their activation states. To investigate the hypothesis of a possible correlation between conscious states and these molecular interactions we simulated the binding affinity between MTs and three psychotropic ligands, namely heroin, cocaine and LSD. After preparing ligands using Molecular Dynamics, we applied docking procedures analyze the microtubule-neuropeptide complex. The study highlights that the drugs bind differently with respect to the control ligand, taxol. Moreover, the study shows that psychoactive ligands bind differently in MTs with respect to tubulin, confirming previous studies on the importance of the MTs conformation.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

Tubulin Post-Translational Modifications and Microtubule Dynamics

Microtubules are hollow tube-like polymeric structures composed of α,β-tubulin heterodimers. They play an important role in numerous cellular processes, including intracellular transport, cell motility and segregation of the chromosomes during cell division. Moreover, microtubule doublets or triplets form a scaffold of a cilium, centriole and basal body, respectively. To perform such diverse fu...

متن کامل

Nanobiomechanical Properties of Microtubules

Microtubules, the active filaments with tubular shapes, play important roles in a wide range of cellular functions, including structural supports, mitosis, cytokinesis, and vesicular transport, which are essential for the growth and division of eukaryotic cells. Finding properties of microtubules is one of the main concerns of scientists. This work helps to obtain mechanical properties of m...

متن کامل

The Effect of the Crocus Sativus L. Carotenoid, Crocin, on the Polymerization of Microtubules, in Vitro

Objective(s): Crocin, as the main carotenoid of saffron, has shown anti-tumor activity both in vitro and in vivo. Crocin might interact with cellular proteins and modulate their functions, but the exact target of this carotenoid and the other compounds of the saffron have not been discovered yet. Microtubular proteins, as one of the most important proteins inside the cells, have several functio...

متن کامل

Modified Couple Stress Theory for Vibration of Embedded Bioliquid-Filled Microtubules under Walking a Motor Protein Including Surface Effects

Microtubules (MTs) are fibrous and tube-like cell substructures exist in cytoplasm of cells which play a vital role in many cellular processes. Surface effects on the vibration of bioliquid MTs surrounded by cytoplasm is investigated in this study. The emphasis is placed on the effect of the motor protein motion on the MTs. The MT is modeled as an orthotropic beam and the surrounded cytoplasm i...

متن کامل

Actin and microtubule cytoskeleton interactions.

Plant cytoskeleton consists of two major networks of protein polymers, actin microfilaments (AFs) and microtubules (MTs). These networks perform numerous functions that are essential for cell division and for maintaining the integrity of cytoplasm required for intracellular transport and cell shape. Besides the more or less indirect cooperation between AFs and MTs, their direct interactions thr...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:

دوره   شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2015