Grant: Operating Grant

Neurons in the brain are usually characterized by the type of chemical transmitter molecules that they produce and release in the context of neuronal communication. However, recent work suggests that some neurons can produce and release more than one type of small chemical messengers. In the current project, we will focus our studies on neurons in the brain that use the chemical messenger dopamine. These neurons are the subjet of a lot of interest due to their implication in many critical brain functions, but also in diseases such Parkinson's, drug abuse and schizophrenia. We propose to study the capacity of dopamine-containing neurons to produce and package the amino acid transmitter glutamate, a phenomenon we contributed to discover during the last decade. We will study one of the fundamental features of dopamine neurons, namely their ability to establish axon terminals of two different types called «synaptic » and « non-synaptic » that apparently subserve different functions. We will also delineate the roles of glutamate release by dopamine-containing neurons in adult animals. In a second part of the project, we will evaluate the possibility that abberrant glutamate release by dopamine-containing neurons develops in the context of Parkinson's disease and whether this could contribute to alterations in brain connectivity. This work could shed light on some fundamental features of the functioning of dopamine neurons both under normal conditions and in the context of brain diseases.