Topic: substantia nigra

Conventionally, neurons are thought to be cellular units that process synaptic inputs into synaptic spikes. However, it is well known that neurons can also spike spontaneously and display a rich repertoire of firing properties with no apparent functional relevance e.g. in in vitro cortical slice preparations. In this talk, I will propose a hypothesis according to which intrinsic excitability in neurons may be a survival mechanism to minimize toxic byproducts of the cell’s energy metabolism. In neurons, this toxicity can arise when mitochondrial ATP production stalls due to limited ADP. Under t

Parkinson's disease (PD), as the most prevalent neurodegenerative motor disorder, presents a complex spectrum of symptoms encompassing both motor impairments (bradykinesia, resting tremor, freezing of gait) and non-motor manifestations (depression, anosmia, anxiety). Robust animal models that faithfully replicate this multifaceted pathology are indispensable for comprehensive PD research. This study aims to investigate if depressive-like behaviour, prominent in up to 40% of PD patients (Laux, 2022), emerges in the bilateral human mutated alpha-synuclein (A53T) rat model of PD.40 adult Sprague-

Dopamine (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra are vital for the control of movement. This fundamental function is encoded by the output signal of DA neurons which switches from spontaneous firing to bursts of action potentials. The latter produces an increase of DA release in targeted areas which is associated to locomotion initiation. The impairment of this process, such as DA neurons degeneration, leads to the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The activation of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs), by the simultaneous binding of glutamate and a co-agonist, is indispensable for th