Rabies Hijacks The Brain: Researchers Take An In-Depth Look

Recent findings published in the journal PLOS Pathogens takes an in-depth look at how rabies acutely attacks the brain, producing psychosis and violent aggression. The virus, which paralyzes the body's internal organs, is estimated to hit about 55,000 people every year.

"Rabies not only hijacks the nervous system's machinery, it also manipulates that machinery to move faster," said Dr. Eran Perlson and Shani Gluska of TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Sagol School of Neuroscience, in collaboration with the Friedrich Loeffler Institute in Germany, in a news release. "We have shown that rabies enters a neuron in the peripheral nervous system by binding to a nerve growth factor receptor, responsible for the health of neurons, called p75. The difference is that its transport is very fast, even faster than that of its endogenous ligand, the small molecules that travel regularly along the neuron and keep the neuron healthy."

For the study, researchers examined how the virus hijacked the "train" transporting the cell components along a neuron that drives it straight into the spinal cord along the cell components that run along a neuron. Once in the spinal cord, the virus caught the first available train to the brain, where it wrought havoc before speeding through the rest of the body, shutting it down organ by organ.

Nerve cells, or neurons, outside the central nervous system are highly asymmetric. A long protrusion called an axon extends from the cell body to another nerve cell or organ along a specific transmission route. In addition to rapid transmission of electric impulses, axons also transport molecular materials over these distances.

"Axonal transport is a delicate and crucial process for neuronal survival, and when disrupted it can lead to neurodegenerative diseases," added Dr. Perlson. "Understanding how an organism such as rabies manipulates this machinery may help us in the future to either restore the process or even to manipulate it to our own therapeutic needs."

Disruptions of the neuron train system can cause neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's and even amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

"An improved understanding of how the neuron train works could lead to new treatments for these disorders as well," Dr. Perlson concluded.