鈥淎n odd combination鈥� is how neuroscientists describe the joint winners of this year鈥檚 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Arvid Carlsson, Paul Greengard and Eric Kandel are all recognised for providing pivotal advances in our understanding of how the brain works. They are rewarded with their share of the 拢625,000 payout. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 have bracketed those three together,鈥� says Philip Strange of Reading University. 鈥淏ut they are three great men.鈥�
In the 1950s, Carlsson, from G枚teborg University in Sweden, showed that a brain chemical called dopamine is important for controlling movement. This led to the discovery that Parkinson鈥檚 disease occurs when dopamine-producing nerve cells in the brain die.
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As a result the dopamine precursor, L-dopa, was developed as a successful drug for the disease. 鈥淐arlsson鈥檚 discovery has had a massive effect on the lives of hundreds of thousands of people with Parkinson鈥檚 disease,鈥� says pharmacologist Peter Jenner of King鈥檚 College London.
鈥淚t was absolutely fundamental. He should have been given the Nobel Prize years ago,鈥� he adds. Carlsson鈥檚 work ultimately led to the development of modern anti-depressant drugs like Prozac.
Carlsson, at 77, says he is surprised but happy about receiving the prize after so long. 鈥淚 feel great!鈥� he says. He is still involved in research, and now owns Carlsson Research, which develops new drugs for movement and mental disorders. 鈥淔ortunately, there鈥檚 a lot more to be done. Otherwise, I don鈥檛 know what I鈥檇 do.鈥�
Paul Greengard from Rockefeller University in New York discovered how dopamine and similar neurotransmitters work. He showed that they modify proteins at synapses 鈥� the points of contact between nerve cells 鈥� in a process called 鈥減hosphorylation鈥�. Altering these proteins controls how excitable the nerve cells are.
鈥淭his was pioneering work,鈥� says Steve Nahorski of Leicester University. 鈥淏ut now we know how important his work was. Now we believe that all synapses are controlled by phosphorylation.鈥�
Eric Kandel of Columbia University in New York studied what happens to synapses by studying sea slugs. When you prod a sea slug, it quickly retracts from the stimulus. But keep prodding it and it stops responding.
In this way, Kandel showed that continued phosphorylation of proteins at the synapses governs their ability to carry signals. 鈥淗e has made a fantastic contribution to neuroscience,鈥� says neuroscientist Seth Grant of Edinburgh University, who worked with Kandel in the 1990s. He says Kandel showed for the first time that learning can be explained simply by nerve cell activity.
However, Grant suggests that another scientist, Tim Bliss of the National Institute of Medical Research in London, might consider himself a little unlucky not to have a share of the prize. It was Bliss who showed that the same mechanisms accompany learning in mammals.
Bliss, however, praises the choice of Kandel. 鈥淗is work set the landscape for research in the field,鈥� he says. He is noncommittal about the possibility that the prize committee could have recognised related achievements. 鈥淭hey might have done, but they didn鈥檛,鈥� he says.