23 Mars – Christian Lüscher – Dopamine neuron self stimulation as a model of drug addiction

Christian Lüscher Professor

Département des Neurosciences Fondamentales & Service de neurologie

Université de Genève

title: Dopamine neuron self stimulation as a model of drug addiction.

Neuroscience Seminar Series:
Friday, March 23rd, 2018, 11:30 am, Salle des conférences (3rd Floor), Centre Universitaire des Saints-Pères, 45 rue des Saints-Pères, 75006 Paris

abstract:

We propose addiction model based on optogenetic dopamine neuron self-stimulation (oDASS) of the ventral tegmental area (VTA). We show that oDASS leads to neural and behavioral adaptations typically observed after prolonged drug exposure, including compulsive self-stimulation despite negative consequences. We demonstrate the power of oDASS to investigate molecular and cellular alterations in identified neurons of a disease relevant neural circuit with the goal to reveal the mechanism underlying individual vulnerability to drugs.

Those interested in meeting with the speaker please contact

nicolas.marie@parisdescartes.fr