Estudo do receptor CB1 utilizando ferramentas de biologia computacional: avaliação do uso do Danio rerio como modelo biológico para o estudo da memória

Abstract

The endocannabinoid system is directly related to several physiological processes, such as homeostasis control, food intake, fight or flight responses and in complex neurological processes, such as memory formation, consolidation and evocation, being phylogenetically conserved since the earliests vertebrates. This study aimed to describe the coding gene for one of the receptors of this system, the CB1, as well as to reveal its biochemical characteristics in Homo sapiens and Danio rerio, investigating the possible existence of a homology between the genes and their associated protein receptor, in addition to analyzing the potential use of D. rerio for studies on the influence of the endocannabinoid system on the processes of formation, consolidation and evocation of memories. The methodology adopted for this exploratory and descriptive study was the bibliographic review about the endocannabinoid system, its phylogenetic relationship, the expression of the gene and its resulting protein receptor in scientific articles and journals, in addition to the use of computational biology tools to determine the degree of similarity between the genes and the receptor of the two species. It was concluded that there is a significant similarity between the genes and the receptor protein, allowing us to consider that D. rerio is a compatible biological model for the studies of the influence of the endocannabinoid system in the associated processes to the memories formation, consolidation and evocation.