About
61
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Introduction
Starting from a formation in psychobiology, I have been involved in the neuroscience and endocannabinoid research since 2001.
I obtained my PhD in Biomedical Science from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México (UNAM, Mexico). In 2009, after being awarded with the Fyssen Foundation fellowship I started my postdoctoral research at the NeuroCentre Magendie (Bordeaux). Then, in 2018 I obtained a tenure-track research position thanks to the IKERBASQUE research fellowship at the Achucarro Basque Center for Neuroscience in the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, Spain. There I am developing my lines of research mainly focused in the identification of brain circuits controlling physiological and pathological states. Do you want to join? Contact me.
Additional affiliations
March 2018 - present
Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea. Achucarro Basque Center For Neuroscience
Position
- Fellow
November 2009 - December 2016
September 2007 - February 2008
Education
September 2004 - July 2009
January 2001 - November 2004
Publications
Publications (61)
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions. Yearly, five million people are diagnosed with epileptic-related disorders. The neuroprotective and therapeutic effect of
(endo)cannabinoid compounds has been extensively investigated in several models of epilepsy.
Therefore, the study of specific cell-type-dependent mechanisms underlying...
Binge drinking (BD) is a serious health concern in adolescents as high ethanol (EtOH) consumption can have cognitive sequelae later in life. Remarkably, an enriched environment (EE) in adulthood significantly recovers memory in mice after adolescent BD, and the endocannabinoid, 2-arachydonoyl-glycerol (2-AG), rescues synaptic plasticity and memory...
The transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) participates in synaptic functions in the brain. In the dentate gyrus, post-synaptic TRPV1 in the granule cell (GC) dendritic spines mediates a type of long-term depression (LTD) of the excitatory medial perforant path (MPP) synapses independent of pre-synaptic cannabinoid CB1 receptors. As CB1 r...
In the brain, hippocampal circuits are crucial for cognitive performance (e.g., memory) and deeply affected in pathological conditions (e.g., epilepsy, Alzheimer). Specialized molecular mechanisms regulate different cell types underlying hippocampal circuitries functions. Among them, cannabinoid receptors exhibit various roles depending on the cell...
Recent advances in neuroscience have positioned brain circuits as key units in controlling behavior, implying that their positive or negative modulation necessarily leads to specific behavioral outcomes. However, emerging evidence suggests that the activation or inhibition of specific brain circuits can actually produce multimodal behavioral outcom...
Water intake is crucial for maintaining body fluid homeostasis and animals' survival [1-4]. In the brain, complex processes trigger thirst and drinking behavior [1-5]. The anterior wall of the third ventricle formed by the subfornical organ (SFO), the median preoptic nucleus, and the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis (OVLT) constitute the...
A complex array of inhibitory interneurons tightly controls hippocampal activity, but how such diversity specifically affects memory processes is not well understood. We find that a small subclass of type 1 cannabinoid receptor (CB1R)-expressing hippocampal interneurons determines episodic-like memory consolidation by linking dopamine D1 receptor (...
The senses dictate how the brain represents the environment, and this representation is the basis of how we act in the world [...]
Olfaction has a direct influence on behavior and cognitive processes. There are different neuromodulatory systems in olfactory circuits that control the sensory information flowing through the rest of the brain. The presence of the cannabinoid type-1 (CB1) receptor, (the main cannabinoid receptor in the brain), has been shown for more than 20 years...
The idea that the effects of drugs largely depend on subcellular target location is emerging as a novel predictive factor of their beneficial or adverse outcomes. G protein-coupled type-1 cannabinoid receptors (CB 1 ) are regulators of several brain functions as well as the main targets of cannabinoid-based medicines.
Besides their classical locati...
A complex array of different inhibitory interneurons tightly controls hippocampal activity, but how such diversity specifically impacts on memory processes is scantly known. We found that a small subclass of type-1 cannabinoid receptor (CB 1 )-expressing hippocampal interneurons determines episodic-like memory consolidation by linking dopamine D 1...
Water intake is regulated by neocortical top-down circuits, but their identity and the cellular mechanisms involved are scantly known. Here, we show that endogenous activation of type-1 cannabinoid receptors (CB1) promotes water intake and that endocannabinoid modulation of excitatory projections from the anterior cingulate cortex to the basolatera...
The retrieval of odor-related memories shapes animal behavior. The anterior piriform cortex (aPC) is the largest part of the olfactory cortex, and it plays important roles in olfactory processing and memory. However, it is still unclear whether specific cellular mechanisms in the aPC control olfactory memory, depending on the appetitive or aversive...
The lack of intrinsic motivation to engage in, and adhere to, physical exercise has major health consequences. However, the neurobiological bases of exercise motivation are still unknown. This study aimed at examining whether the endocannabinoid system (ECS) is involved in this process. To do so, we developed an operant conditioning paradigm wherei...
By priming brain circuits, associations between low-salience stimuli often guide future behavioral choices through a process known as mediated or inferred learning. However, the precise neurobiological mechanisms of these incidental associations are largely unknown. Using sensory preconditioning procedures, we show that type 1 cannabinoid receptors...
Bidirectional communication between neurons and astrocytes shapes synaptic plasticity and behavior. D-serine is a necessary co-agonist of synaptic N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs), but the physiological factors regulating its impact on memory processes are scantly known. We show that astroglial CB1 receptors are key determinants of object re...
Astroglial type-1 cannabinoid (CB1) receptors are involved in synaptic transmission, plasticity and behavior by interfering with the so-called tripartite synapse formed by pre- and post-synaptic neuronal elements and surrounding astrocyte processes. However, little is known concerning the subcellular distribution of astroglial CB1 receptors. In par...
Several paradigms for rodent models of the cognitive and negative endophenotypes found in schizophrenic patients have been proposed. However, significant efforts are needed in order to study the pathophysiology of schizophrenia-related positive symptoms. Recently, it has been shown that these positive symptoms can be studied in rats by using repres...
Cannabis-induced acute psychotic-like states (CIAPS) represent a growing health issue, but their underlying neurobiological mechanisms are poorly understood. The use of antipsychotics and benzodiazepines against CIAPS is limited by side effects and/or by their ability to tackle only certain aspects of psychosis. Thus, safer wide-spectrum treatments...
The endocannabinoid system (ECS) has been identified as the target of the main psychoactive component of the plant Cannabis sativa, Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The ECS is composed of at least two receptors, the cannabinoid receptors 1 and 2, their endogenous ligands called endocannabinoids, such as anandamide (AEA) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2...
Cellular activity in the brain depends on the high energetic support provided by mitochondria, the cell organelles which use energy sources to generate ATP. Acute cannabinoid intoxication induces amnesia in humans and animals, and the activation of type-1 cannabinoid receptors present at brain mitochondria membranes (mtCB1) can directly alter mitoc...
The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is abundantly expressed in the brain. This
system regulates a plethora of physiological functions and is composed of
cannabinoid receptors, their endogenous ligands (endocannabinoids), and the
enzymes involved in the metabolism of endocannabinoids. In this review, we
highlight the new advances in cannabinoid signali...
Expression of aversive memories is key for survival, but the underlying brain mechanisms are not fully understood. Medial habenular (MHb) axons corelease glutamate and acetylcholine onto target postsynaptic interpeduncular (IPN) neurons, but their role in aversive memories has not been addressed so far. We found that cannabinoid type 1 receptors (C...
The endocannabinoid system is the target of the main psychoactive component of the plant Cannabis sativa, the Δ(9) -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). This system is composed by the cannabinoid receptors, the endogenous ligands, and the enzymes involved in their metabolic processes, which works both centrally and peripherally to regulate a plethora of phy...
In 2002, a landmark study showed that the endogenous activity of the cannabinoid type-1 (CB1) receptors is necessary for extinction of conditioned freezing in mice (Marsicano G, Wotjak CT, Azad SC, Bisogno T, Rammes G, Cascio MG, Hermann H, Tang J, Hofmann C, Zieglgänsberger W, Di Marzo V, Lutz B. The endogenous cannabinoid system controls extincti...
Significance
Cannabinoids and their endogenous counterparts, the so-called endocannabinoids, promote neuroprotection in laboratory animals by engaging CB 1 cannabinoid receptors, one of the most abundant types of receptors in the brain. However, the assessment of the physiological relevance and therapeutic potential of the CB 1 receptor in neurolog...
Hunger arouses sensory perception, eventually leading to an increase in food intake, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. We found that cannabinoid type-1 (CB1) receptors promote food intake in fasted mice by increasing odor detection. CB1 receptors were abundantly expressed on axon terminals of centrifugal cortical glutamatergic...
Cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1)-dependent signaling in the brain is known to modulate food intake. Recent evidence has actually shown that CB1 can both inhibit and stimulate food intake in fasting/refeeding conditions, depending on the specific neuronal circuits involved. However, the exact brain sites where this bimodal control is exerted and th...
Type-1 cannabinoid (CB1) and leptin (ObR) receptors regulate metabolic and astroglial functions, but the potential links between the two systems in astrocytes were not investigated so far. Genetic and pharmacological manipulations of CB1 receptor expression and activity in cultured cortical and hypothalamic astrocytes demonstrated that cannabinoid...
Complex interactions between periphery and the brain regulate food intake in mammals. Cannabinoid type-1 (CB1) receptor antagonists are potent hypophagic agents, but the sites where this acute action is exerted and the underlying mechanisms are not fully elucidated. To dissect the mechanisms underlying the hypophagic effect of CB1 receptor blockade...
Activation of type 1 cannabinoid receptors (CB1R) decreases GABA and glutamate release in cortical and subcortical regions, with complex outcomes on cortical network activity. To date there have been few attempts to disentangle the region- and cell-specific mechanisms underlying the effects of cannabinoids on cortical network activity in vivo. Here...
Background:
We have shown that the endogenous stimulation of cannabinoid type-1 (CB₁) receptors is a prerequisite for voluntary running in mice, but the precise mechanisms through which the endocannabinoid system exerts a tonic control on running performance remain unknown.
Methods:
We analyzed the respective impacts of constitutive/conditional...
To maximize their chances of survival, animals need to rapidly and efficiently respond to aversive situations. These responses can be classified as active or passive and depend on the specific nature of threats, but also on individual fear coping styles. In this study, we show that the control of excitatory and inhibitory brain neurons by type-1 ca...
The mammalian brain is one of the organs with the highest energy demands, and mitochondria are key determinants of its functions. Here we show that the type-1 cannabinoid receptor (CB(1)) is present at the membranes of mouse neuronal mitochondria (mtCB(1)), where it directly controls cellular respiration and energy production. Through activation of...
This study has investigated the role of hypothalamic and amygdalar type-1 cannabinoid (CB1) receptors in the emotional and neuroendocrine responses to stress. To do so, we used the Cre/loxP system to generate conditional mutant mice lacking the CB1 gene in neurons expressing the transcription factor single-minded 1 (Sim1). This choice was dictated...
The central nervous system control of food intake has been extensively studied, hence, several neurotransmitter systems regulating this function are now clearly identified, for example, the endocannabinoid and serotoninergic systems. The former stimulates feeding while the latter inhibits it. Oleamide (Ole) is a cannabimimetic molecule affecting bo...
Oleoylethanolamide (OEA) is an endogenous molecule related to endocannabinoids (eCBs) that induces satiety. It binds to the peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPAR alpha). PPAR alpha is involved in feeding regulation and it has been proposed to play a role in sleep modulation. The objective of the present work is to show if this mole...
A nascent literature has postulated endocannabinoids (eCBs) as strong sleep-inducing lipids, particularly rapid-eye-movement sleep (REMs), nevertheless the exact mechanisms behind this effect remain to be determined. Anandamide and 2-arachidonyl glycerol, two of the most important eCBS, are synthesized in the hippocampus. This structure also expres...
It has been suggested that sleep has a restorative function; however, experimental support is limited. Hence, we investigated whether changes in the level of antiapoptotic BCL-2 protein and proapoptotic BAX protein occur during sleep deprivation (SD) and sleep rebound, and evaluated the spontaneous changes in these proteins, along the light-dark cy...
The dorsolateral striatum (DLS) has been implicated in the learning of habits and procedural memories. Extinction of this kind of memories has been poorly studied. The DLS expresses high levels of the cannabinergic receptor one (CB1), and, lately, it has been suggested that the activation of CB1 in this structure is indispensable for long-term depr...
One of the adaptive abilities of the brain is the generation of a strategy to optimize acquisition of information, i.e., learning. In this study, we explored the role of environmental conditions (the light-dark cycle) and of the endocannabinoid anandamide in rats to select a strategy to solve the Barnes maze (BM).
To determine the effects of manipu...
Cannabis plant has been used for several purposes since ancestral times. For example, for the manufacture of textiles, as a food, in rituals, as a recreational drug, but the most important use was as a remedy. The use of cannabis with medical purposes was reported in the world´s oldest pharmacopeia, the pen-tsa´o ching and the indications for the u...
Evidence indicates that the endocannabinoid, 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), increases food intake when injected into the nucleus accumbens shell (NAcS), thereby potentially activating hypothalamic nuclei involved in food intake regulation. We aimed to evaluate potential orexigenic effects of the endocannabinoid anandamide and of AA5HT, a fatty acid...
En la primera parte de esta revisión nos encargamos de revisar al hipocampo y al estriado en el contexto de los sistemas de memoria. En esta parte revisaremos las bases anatómicas y fisiológicas de los sistemas de memoria representados por la amígdala y la corteza prefrontal así como su participación en la expresión de estrategias para la solución...
The ability to abstract, store and recover information from the environment in order to generate new strategies to solve problems is one of the most important qualities of the human brain. We mean by strategy, the sophisticated way to solve a problem. A strategy represents in essence the refinement of a given behavior to solve a problem. A strategy...
The ability to abstract, store and recover information from the environment in order to generate new strategies to solve problems is one of the most important qualities of the human brain. We mean by strategy, the sophisticated way to solve a problem. A strategy represents in essence the refinement of a given behavior to solve a problem. A strategy...
SUMMARY The ability to abstract, store and recover information from the environment in order to generate new strategies to solve prob- lems is one of the most important qualities of the human brain. We mean by strategy, the sophisticated way to solve a problem. A strategy represents in essence the refinement of a given behavior to solve a problem....
Questions
Questions (2)
Hello guys
Do you have any recommendations for telemetry systems ? focusing in EEG recordings?
Thanks a lot in advance
Open position in my lab. Mitochondria, cannabinoids, etc.