New discoveries in key pathway for neurological diseases
Wednesday, January 7, 2015 - 23:00
in Health & Medicine
A new intermediate step and unexpected enzymatic activity in a metabolic pathway in the body, which could lead to new drug design for psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases, has been discovered by researchers. This pathway produces several neurotransmitter regulators and is responsible for metabolizing nearly 99 percent of the tryptophan in the body. Tryptophan is a precursor of serotonin, the neurotransmitter responsible for mood.