Tryptophan Improves Memory Independent of Its Role as a Serotonin Precursor: Potential Involvement of Microtubule Proteins

There are numerous studies examining the effects of tryptophan on behavioral processes, including learning and memory. While most studies suggest that fluctuations in tryptophan levels exert their effects through modifications in serotonergic neurotransmission, there are other neural mechanisms that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of molecular neuroscience 2020-04, Vol.70 (4), p.559-567
Main Authors: Yousefzadeh, S. Aryana, Jarah, Mostafa, Riazi, Gholam Hossein
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Binding Sites
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Brain - drug effects
Brain - metabolism
Cell Biology
Data processing
Dimers
Information processing
Male
Microtubules
Microtubules - metabolism
Molecular Docking Simulation
Neural networks
Neurochemistry
Neurology
Neurosciences
Neurotransmission
Object recognition
Polymers
Precursors
Protein Binding
Proteins
Proteomics
Rats
Rats, Wistar
Serotonin
Serotonin - metabolism
Spatial memory
Spatial Memory - drug effects
Tryptophan
Tryptophan - administration & dosage
Tryptophan - pharmacokinetics
Tryptophan - pharmacology
Tubulin
Tubulin - chemistry
Tubulin - metabolism
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Summary:There are numerous studies examining the effects of tryptophan on behavioral processes, including learning and memory. While most studies suggest that fluctuations in tryptophan levels exert their effects through modifications in serotonergic neurotransmission, there are other neural mechanisms that have accounted for the observed outcomes as well. In this study, we demonstrated that acute administration of tryptophan modulates spatial and object-recognition memory independent of its role as a serotonin precursor. One possible explanation for the observed improvement in memory is through the interaction between tryptophan and microtubule proteins. Microtubules are key components involved in the morphological and functional development of neurons. Moreover, several models suggest that microtubule dynamics contributes to neural network connectivity, information processing, and memory storage. Here, we examined the interaction between tryptophan and microtubules and indicated that tryptophan is capable of a creating a static interaction with the tubulin dimer through a single binding site. This interaction induces the rate of tubulin assembly and as a result increases polymer mass.
ISSN:0895-8696
1559-1166
DOI:10.1007/s12031-019-01457-y