Maria-Carmen MedranoINCIA
Maria-Carmen Medrano
PhD Pharmacy
Studying the peripheral control of attention and its involvement in the vulnerability to addiction in females and males
About
16
Publications
4,350
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
102
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
I am a Doctor in Pharmacy who has developed her research career in Neurosciences. My scientific interests involve the understanding of the interaction between central and peripheral nervous system, in physiological and pathological conditions and how pharmacology can be applied to study and modify those disorders. In my current project, I use behavioural paradigms combined with pharmacology, chemo and optogenetic tools to investigate the link between attention and the vulnerability to addiction
Additional affiliations
November 2017 - December 2019
Neurocentre Magendie
Position
- PostDoc Position
July 2014 - August 2014
Position
- Short stay (4 weeks)
Description
- Use of a micro-optrode for single-cell electrical and optical recordings in mice spinal cord "in vivo"
January 2014 - present
INCI
Position
- PostDoc Position
Description
- "In vivo" yuxtacellular recordings in mice spinal cord dorsal horn
Education
October 2008 - September 2010
September 2003 - September 2008
Publications
Publications (16)
Plasticity of inhibitory transmission in the spinal dorsal horn (SDH) is thought to be a key mechanism responsible for pain hypersensitivity in neuropathic pain syndromes. We evaluated this plasticity by recording responses to mechanical stimuli in silent neurons (non-spontaneously active, NSA) and neurons showing ongoing activity (spontaneously ac...
The addictive properties of nicotine, the main alkaloid in tobacco and tobacco-derived products, largely depend on its action on the activity of midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons. The Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) channel has also been examined as an emerging contributor to addiction-related symptoms due to its ability to modulate m...
Behavioral phenotyping devices have been successfully used to build ethograms, but many aspects of behavior remain out of reach of available phenotyping systems. We now report on a novel device, which consists in an open-field platform resting on highly sensitive piezoelectric (electromechanical) pressure-sensors, with which we could detect the sli...
Endogenous acetylcholine (ACh) is an important modulator of nociceptive sensory processing in the spinal cord. An increased level of spinal ACh induces analgesia both in humans and rodents while interfering with cholinergic signaling is allodynic, demonstrating that a basal tone of spinal ACh modulates nociceptive responses in naïve animals. The pl...
Physical exercise, which can be addictogenic on its own, is considered a therapeutic alternative for drug craving. Exercise might thus share with drugs the ability to strengthen excitatory synapses onto ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopaminergic neurones, as assessed by the ratio of AMPA receptor (AMPAR)-mediated excitatory postsynaptic currents (EP...
At the spinal cord level, a tone of endogenous acetylcholine (ACh) modulates nociceptive sensory processing. Increasing the level of spinal ACh induces analgesia in naïve animals or in situation of acute pain in the clinics, but whether this is still the case in situations or models of chronic pain is controversial. Here, we demonstrate the persist...
Behavioral phenotyping devices have been successfully used to build ethograms, but studying the temporal dynamics of individual movements during spontaneous, ongoing behavior, remains a challenge. We now report on a novel device, the Phenotypix, which consists in an open-field platform resting on highly sensitive piezoelectric (electro-mechanical)...
In Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), sensory-hypersensitivity and impaired habituation is thought to result in attention overload and various behavioral abnormalities in reaction to the excessive and remanent salience of environment-features that would normally be ignored. This phenomenon, termed sensory defensiveness, has been proposed as the potential ca...
Background and purpose:
Regulation of μ receptor (MOR) dynamics such as MOR trafficking is a possible mechanism underlying opioid tolerance that contributes to inefficient recycling of opioid responses. We aimed to characterize the functional MOR turnover in the noradrenergic nucleus locus coeruleus (LC).
Experimental approach:
We measured opioi...
Activated mammalian target of rapamycin (P-mTOR) has been shown to maintain the sensitivity of subsets of small diameter primary afferent A-nociceptors. Local or systemic inhibition of the mTORC1 pathway reduced punctate mechanical and cold sensitivity in neuropathic pain and therefore offered a new approach to chronic pain control. In the present...
Morphine withdrawal is associated with a hyperactivity of locus coeruleus (LC) neurons by an elevated glutamate neurotransmission in this nucleus. We postulate that reductions in the amount of glutamate in the LC by enhancing its reuptake or inhibiting its release could attenuate the behavioral and cellular consequences of morphine withdrawal.
We i...
Excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs) in the CNS contribute to the clearance of glutamate released during neurotransmission. The aim of this study was to explore the role of EAATs in the regulation of locus coeruleus (LC) neurons by glutamate.
We measured the effect of different EAAT subtype inhibitors/enhancers on glutamate- and KCl-induced a...
Questions
Questions (11)
I am looking for nicotine pyrrolidine methiodide, a nicotin agonist that doesn't cross the BBB. I saw in some papers in which they bought it from Toronto Research Chemicals; however it doesn't appear in its website anymore. It is not listed in Sigma or Tocris, either.
Is someone using this product? Could you let me know who can I purchase it from?
Thank you in advance
Hi! Does anyone have experience or know some labs/publications who perform electrophysiological recordings from noradrenergic neurons of the locus coeruleus in behaving mice?
Thanks!
Hi, I'm using DREADDs in ChAt:cre mice to specifically target cholinergic inputs to the PFC. However, I have some issues at the behavioural level with the CNO ( 1 and 2 mg/kg). Has someone experienced something similar? Or do you know some literarture about CNO specificity issues in ChAt:cre lines?
Thank you!
Hi all,
I would like to know whether I could calculate the AMPA Rectification Index of dopaminergic neurons of the VTA as the ratio of EPSCs amplitudes between -70 and +40 mV.
I know that ideally I should have EPSCs recorded at different voltages (-40, 0 mV...) however, I would like to know whether those two points would be enough.
Thanks in advance,
Maria
Hello everyone!
I need to buy one osmometer to measure my solutions for patch clamp recordings. Could anyone recommend me an effective, simple and not very expensive osmometer?
Thank you in advance!
Maria
Hi all!
I am performing some patch recordings to study the AMPA/NMDA ratio in the VTA. For this I need to apply picrotoxin.
Would you recommend me to dissolve it in ethanol or in DMSO? Do any of these solvents affect the neuronal activity? (Conc. < 0.01%)
Thanks a lot for your help!
Mari
I have started working in a project in which I have to patch Dopaminergic neurons of the mice VTA to study the effect of different natural rewards by checking the AMPA/NMDA ratio.
This is the first time that I patch in the VTA and in all the literature about patching DA neurons to study the effect of drugs of abuse they use horizonatal slices. So do I!
Does anyone know why horizontal and no coronal or sagittal (which are the most common way to slice the brain to perform patch-clamp experiments)?
If someone has a good reason I would be very grateful if she or he shares it with me!
Thank you very much in advance!
I am very interested in recording in VTA in freely moving animals with (home-made) multielectrodes. I would like to know if anyone has experience on this. If so, please let me know if you could share your expertise!
Thanks in advance!
I need to use TEA and QX in my patch clamp recordings to block potassium and sodium channels to measure AMPA/NMDA ratio in VTA dopaminergic neurons. It is the first time that I perform these experiments and I was wondering if it is better to prepare the stock solution including these drugs or if it is possible to add them the day of the experiment. This last option would be easier but I do not know if it might introduce a big change inthe pH and the osmolarity.
Thanks in advance!
Hello everyone,
I just started doing patch-clamp recordings and I would like to ask you a naïve (maybe crazy) question. Is it possible to include drugs (agonists, antagonists, etc.) in the intracellular solution? I would like to know if it is possible to activate the intracellular receptors and i thought that this was the only way.
Thanks in advance!
I cannot get pipettes with a "progressive" tip
Projects
Projects (2)
Since 1st February 2016 I am working as a Post-doctoral researcher at The main objective of my project is the characterization of the hippocampal pyramidal-interneuron interactions and oscillations in a mice model of Alzheimer disease. For this, I perform extracellular multi-unit recordings in awake mice. Moreover, I also characterize fine behaviors related to Alzheimer Disease by using an innovative platform which allows to detect any animal movement.
