MB3 -- Does a 2x dose of folic acid affect autophagy and expression of autophagy pathway proteins?
Start Date
8-4-2022 10:30 AM
End Date
8-4-2022 12:15 PM
Location
URC Greatroom
Document Type
Event
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are becoming more prevalent in recent decades. ASD is now known to be a disorder with an epigenetic component. ASD affects social behaviors and leads to an increase in repetitive behaviors. ASD patient brains are characterized by lower autophagy rates, which induces a higher dendritic spine count in the cortex of the brain. Formerly, our lab showed that a 2x dose of folic acid (FA) led to a significant increase in dendritic spines in a human neuronal cell line (SH-SY5Y cells). FA is a dietary factor that affects epigenetics by contributing to the one-carbon metabolism pathway, which affects epigenetic marks. Extra FA has been added to our grains and other food stuffs since the mid-1990s. Through epigenetics, FA contributes to the regulation of neurogenesis and cell death to maintain homeostasis of the central nervous system. I hypothesized that excess levels of FA would therefore decrease autophagy due to an inverse relationship between autophagy and dendritic spines. Autophagy rates were significantly decreased in 2x FA treated cells compared to the control cells. Here, we also present the Western Blots for autophagy-related proteins that were used to understand the mechanism by which FA affects autophagy.
Keywords
Cell Molecular Biology
MB3 -- Does a 2x dose of folic acid affect autophagy and expression of autophagy pathway proteins?
URC Greatroom
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are becoming more prevalent in recent decades. ASD is now known to be a disorder with an epigenetic component. ASD affects social behaviors and leads to an increase in repetitive behaviors. ASD patient brains are characterized by lower autophagy rates, which induces a higher dendritic spine count in the cortex of the brain. Formerly, our lab showed that a 2x dose of folic acid (FA) led to a significant increase in dendritic spines in a human neuronal cell line (SH-SY5Y cells). FA is a dietary factor that affects epigenetics by contributing to the one-carbon metabolism pathway, which affects epigenetic marks. Extra FA has been added to our grains and other food stuffs since the mid-1990s. Through epigenetics, FA contributes to the regulation of neurogenesis and cell death to maintain homeostasis of the central nervous system. I hypothesized that excess levels of FA would therefore decrease autophagy due to an inverse relationship between autophagy and dendritic spines. Autophagy rates were significantly decreased in 2x FA treated cells compared to the control cells. Here, we also present the Western Blots for autophagy-related proteins that were used to understand the mechanism by which FA affects autophagy.