Please activate JavaScript!
Please install Adobe Flash Player, click here for download
ePaper created 2013-08-02, 08:40:53 | version 1.25.20
15 RESEARCH AT THE CENTRE | Brain Research 2|2013 Research in Jülich feine replaced the radioactive molecules in the A1 receptors. They discovered that it binds to three particularly inter- esting areas. These include the thalamus – sometimes referred to as the ‘gate to the cerebral cortex’ and influences the readiness of the brain to take in informa- tion, the hippocampus, which plays an important role in the transfer of informa- tion from short-time memory to long- term memory, and finally, parts of the cerebral cortex referred to as the associ- ation cortex. “This is where information from different brain regions comes to- gether, where thoughts are ‘juggled’, so to say, and where our new ideas proba- bly come from,” says Bauer. This could explain why coffee is not only a treat, but also a means of temporarily increas- ing the performance of the brain. CONTRIBUTION TO ALZHEIMER’S RESEARCH The association cortex is also the part of the cerebrum where an infamous decay process of the brain has a particularly devastating effect: Alzheimer’s disease. There are epidemiological studies that suggest coffee drinkers are less likely to get Alzheimer’s disease, which means that coffee could have a certain protec- tive effect. Bauer is hopeful: “Studying the molecular effects of caffeine, par- ticularly in the cerebral cortex, may help to develop drugs to prevent Alzheimer’s disease.” In his work, Bauer is cooperat- ing closely with his Jülich colleagues in the area of nuclear chemistry, who are developing a new, even more specific adenosine ligand, and with Prof. Paolo Carloni and his team from the Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS), who are approximating the complex molecular interactions of caffeine and its receptors by means of simulations on Jülich’s su- percomputer. :: Wiebke Rögener Where caffeine takes effect 3 2 1 Caffeine binds to so-called A1 re- ceptors in three regions of the brain, where it unfolds its stimulat- ing effects: 1 Cerebral cortex 2 Thalamus 3 Hippocampus Institute Publication