Lipid helps keep algae and brain fluid moving

Lipid helps keep algae and brain fluid moving
The same lipid that helps algae swim toward the light also appears to enable one type of brain cell to keep cerebrospinal fluid moving, researchers report.

The lipid is ceramide, long known to help keep skin smooth, and now Medical College of Georgia researchers have found ceramide helps make and keep in motion hairlike projections called motile cilia found in algae and in brains.

“It’s important to know how you regulate your cilia because they can become dysfunctional by stroke, by Alzheimer’s, by inflammation, even by aging,” said Dr. Erhard Bieberich, neuroscientist in the MCG Department of Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine.

PR:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-11/mcog-lhk110315.php

#neuroscience   #research   #ceramide   #medicine