 is the director of the Laboratory of Cellular and Synaptic Physiology.
Present research and future plans
The Laboratory is investigating the functional and structural characterization of neocortical networks, and the interplay between inhibitory and excitatory systems. We focus mainly -but not exclusively- on the temporal areas, which process auditory information, using rodent models for studying physiology and morphology of single cells, their synapses, and the way they respond to different types of stimuli, such as repeated electrical activation of their synaptic afferents or chemical activation of membrane or intracellular receptors.
Lessons | Laboratory of Synaptic and Cellular Physiology
Objectives
The Laboratory of Synaptic and Cellular Physiology (LSCP) is interested in developing a quantitative model explaining how the neocortex switches between different functional modalities under the influence of endogenous neuromodulators like acetylcholine and monoamines. The work is based on the effect of such modulators on firing patterns, synaptic conductances and other cellular properties.
Current Focus
We are focusing now on the mechanisms used by acetylcholine, dopamine and norepinephrine, neurotransmitter associated with attentive and learning states, to change the response of single individual cells and small circuits in the supragranular layers of the auditory cortex of the rat.
Diseases
Although the main objective is to study basic properties of cortical networks, our work is aimed to understanding neurological and psychiatric diseases including Alzeheimer disease, which is associated with a cholinergic deficit, with psychoses of schizophrenic or other origin, and drug addiction, which are related to abnormal monoaminergic function.
Techniques
Electrophysiology:
extracellular recording, patch-clamp recording, in culture, slice and in vivo preparations
Behavior:
MatLab-controlled two-lever gated pellet-dispensing systems
Anatomy:
neuron tracing, Golgi stain, immunofluorescence
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