About
46
Publications
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720
Citations
Introduction
Current institution
Additional affiliations
October 2011 - December 2012
Position
- Master's Student
Description
- Neurotoxicology, Cell stress/apoptosis assays and Behavioral Neurosciences
September 2011 - December 2012
Position
- Master's Student
Description
- Developmental Neurosciences, Neuronal Morphology (Cerebellum) and Proteomics
April 2011 - February 2013
Position
- Master's Student
Description
- Immunological and endocrine interactions during health and disease Action of thyroid hormones on immune cells functions
Education
March 2013 - March 2016
February 2011 - February 2013
January 2007 - February 2011
Università Degli Studi Roma Tre
Field of study
- Immunology - Microbiology
Publications
Publications (46)
Breathing and vigilance are regulated by pH and CO2 levels in the central nervous system. The hypocretin/orexin (Hcrt/Orx)- and histamine (HA)-containing hypothalamic neurons synergistically control different aspects of the waking state. Acidification inhibits firing of most neurons but these two groups in the caudal hypothalamus are excited by hyp...
The intricate interplay between the gut microbiota
and the GI tract has garnered significant attention, as
growing evidence has identified the inflammasome
as a crucial yet underexplored master regulator in
microbiota-driven diseases. Triggered by a variety of
dangers, inflammasomes are supramolecular complexes
that regulate immune response....
Mammalian circadian rhythms, which orchestrate the daily temporal structure of biological processes, including the sleep-wake cycle, are primarily regulated by the circadian clock in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). The SCN clock is also implicated in providing an arousal ‘signal,’ particularly during the wake-maintenance zone (WMZ)...
The parabrachial nucleus (PB), located in the dorsolateral pons, contains primarily glutamatergic neurons that regulate responses to a variety of interoceptive and cutaneous sensory signals. One lateral PB subpopulation expresses the Calca gene, which codes for the neuropeptide calcitonin gene‐related peptide (CGRP). These PB Calca /CGRP neurons re...
Pain therapies that alleviate both pain and sleep disturbances may be the most effective for pain relief, as both chronic pain and sleep loss render the opioidergic system, targeted by opioids, less sensitive and effective for analgesia. Therefore, we first studied the link between sleep disturbances and the activation of nociceptors in two acute p...
Much evidence now indicates a direct crosstalk between thyroid hormones (THs) and the immune system. We previously showed that THs behave as anti-inflammatory agents in human leukemic THP-1 monocytes, but a potential neuroprotective effect of THs in microglia have been under-investigated. Microglia, the primary innate immune cells of the brain, pla...
The secretion of cortisol in humans and corticosterone (Cort) in rodents follows a daily rhythm which is important in readying the individual for the daily active cycle and is impaired in chronic depression. This rhythm is orchestrated by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) which governs the activity of neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the h...
The parabrachial nucleus (PB), located in the dorsolateral pons, contains primarily glutamatergic neurons which regulate responses to a variety of interoceptive and cutaneous sensory signals. The lateral PB subpopulation expressing the Calca gene which produces the neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) relays signals related to threat...
The "dorsal pons", or "dorsal pontine tegmentum" (dPnTg), is part of the brainstem. It is a complex, densely packed region whose nuclei are involved in regulating many vital functions. Notable among them are the parabrachial nucleus, the Kölliker Fuse, the Barrington nucleus, the locus coeruleus, and the dorsal, laterodorsal, and ventral tegmental...
The "dorsal pons", or "dorsal pontine tegmentum" (dPnTg), is part of the brainstem. It is a complex, densely packed region whose nuclei are involved in the regulation of many vital functions. Notable among them are the parabrachial nucleus, the Kölliker Fuse, the Barrington nucleus, the locus coeruleus, and the laterodorsal, ventral, and dorsal teg...
People with narcolepsy often experience intrusive episodes of muscle weakness known as cataplexy which are usually triggered by strong, positive emotions. Importantly, cataplexy almost exclusively occurs during social interactions, so we examined whether the prosocial neuropeptide oxytocin promotes cataplexy and mapped the underlying neural circuit...
Study objectives:
The pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPT) is implicated in many brain functions, ranging from sleep/wake control and locomotion, to reward mechanisms and learning. The PPT contains cholinergic, GABAergic and glutamatergic neurons with extensive ascending and descending axonal projections. Glutamatergic PPT (PPT vGlut2) neurons...
Thyroid hormones, T3 (triiodothyronine) and T4 (thyroxine), induce a variety of long-term effects on important physiological functions, ranging from development and growth to metabolism regulation, by interacting with specific nuclear or cytosolic receptors. Extranuclear or nongenomic effects of thyroid hormones are mediated by plasma membrane or c...
Humans and animals lacking orexin neurons exhibit daytime sleepiness, sleep attacks, and state instability. While the circuit basis by which orexin neurons contribute to consolidated wakefulness remains unclear, existing models posit that orexin neurons provide their wake-stabilizing influence by exerting excitatory tone on other brain arousal node...
The most common cancer, lung cancer, causes deaths worldwide. Most lung cancer patients have non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLCs) with a poor prognosis. The chemotherapies frequently cause resistance therefore search for new effective drugs for NSCLC patients is an urgent and essential issue. Deaminated thyroxine, tetraiodothyroacetic acid (tetr...
Substance P (SP), a product of the tachykinin 1 (Tac1) gene, is expressed in many hypothalamic neurons. Its wake-promoting potential could be mediated through histaminergic (HA) neurons of the tuberomamillary nucleus (TMN), where functional expression of neurokinin receptors (NKRs) waits to be characterized. As in the process of nociception in the...
Integrin αvβ3, a cell surface receptor, participates in signaling transduction pathways in cancer cell proliferation and metastasis. Several ligands bind to integrin αvβ3 to regulate proliferation and metastasis in cancer cells. Crosstalk between the integrin and other signal transduction pathways also plays an important role in modulating cancer p...
Introduction
Optogenetic and chemogenetic studies have shown that activation of basal forebrain (BF) GABAergic neurons rapidly wakes up mice from non-REM (NREM) sleep. These wake-promoting responses have been attributed to BF GABAergic neurons projecting to the cerebral cortex and more specifically to the inhibition of cortical fast-spiking interne...
Introduction
The ventrolateral preoptic (VLPO) nucleus is a key area involved in the initiation and maintenance of sleep. During wakefulness, sleep-promoting galanin neurons in the VLPO are directly inhibited by arousal signals including noradrenaline and acetylcholine. We have found that while these neurotransmitters directly inhibit VLPO galanin...
Interaction between thyroid hormones and the immune system is reported in the literature. Thyroid hormones, thyroxine, T4, but also T3, act non-genomically through mechanisms that involve a plasma membrane receptor αvβ3 integrin, a co-receptor for insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Previous data from our laboratory show a crosstalk between thyro...
The interdependence between thyroid hormones (THs), namely, thyroxine and triiodothyronine, and immune system is nowadays well-recognized, although not yet fully explored. Synthesis, conversion to a bioactive form, and release of THs in the circulation are events tightly supervised by the hypothalamic–pituitary–thyroid (HPT) axis. Newly synthesized...
The hypothalamic suprachiasmatic (SCN) clock contains several neurochemically defined cell groups that contribute to the genesis of circadian rhythms. Using cell-specific and genetically targeted approaches we have confirmed an indispensable role for vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-expressing SCN (SCNVIP) neurons, including their molecular clock,...
During obstructive sleep apnea, elevation of CO 2 during apneas contributes to awakening and restoring airway patency. We previously found that glutamatergic neurons in the external lateral parabrachial nucleus (PBel) containing calcitonin gene related peptide (PBel CGRP neurons) are critical for causing arousal during hypercapnia. However, others...
Abstract
Introduction
The pedunculopontine tegmental (PPT) region in the brainstem is crucial for the regulation of sleep/wake states. We recently showed that chemogenetic activation of glutamatergic PPT neurons promotes wakefulness for several hours. Here we used optogenetic activation of these neurons to further investigate the mechanisms and pat...
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have increasingly been shown to be involved in human cancer, and interest has grown about the potential use of miRNAs for cancer therapy. miRNA levels are known to be altered in cancer cells, including in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a subtype of lung cancer that is the most prevalent form of cancer worldwide and that lack...
Among the neuronal populations implicated in sleep-wake control, the ventrolateral preoptic (VLPO) nucleus has emerged as a key sleep-promoting center. However, the synaptic drives that regulate the VLPO to control arousal levels in vivo have not to date been identified. Here, we show that sleep-promoting galaninergic neurons within the VLPO nucleu...
The histaminergic neurons of the tuberomammillary nucleus (TMNHDC) of the posterior hypothalamus have long been implicated in promoting arousal. More recently, a role for GABAergic signalling by the TMNHDC neurons in arousal control has been proposed. Here, we investigated the effects of selective chronic disruption of GABA synthesis (via genetic d...
Introduction
The parafacial zone (PZ) is an important region for the generation of non-REM (NREM) sleep. We previously found that optogenetic-stimulation of PZ GABA projections inhibits lateral parabrachial neurons (lPB) that project to basal forebrain (BF) and we thought that through this circuit PZ neurons promoted NREM sleep. However some studie...
Histaminergic (HA) neurons located in the tuberomamillary nucleus (TMN) of the posterior hypothalamus fire exclusively during waking and support many physiological functions. We investigated the role of the endovanilloid N-oleoyldopamine (OLDA) in TMN, where dopamine synthesis and its conjugation with oleic acid likely occur. We show that several k...
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00011-018-1169-0
Recent studies have identified an especially important role for basal forebrain GABAergic (BFVGAT) neurons in the regulation of behavioral waking and fast cortical rhythms associated with cognition. However, BFVGAT neurons comprise several neurochemically and anatomically distinct subpopulations, including parvalbumin-containing BFVGAT neurons and...
Introduction
We recently identified a novel population of wake-promoting GABAergic neurons in the ventral lateral hypothalamus (vLH). The physiological conditions under which these neurons become active as well as the circuit basis through which these neurons promote wake remains unresolved. To further characterize vLH GABA neurons both functionall...
Objectif
Nous avons précédemment montré que les systèmes à histamine (HA) et à orexine (Ox), pilotés par les hormones sexuelles, jouent un rôle clé dans l’éveil lié à l’attirance sexuelle (sexual arousal). Afin de déterminer si ces hormones exercent une action directe sur les neurones à HA et à Ox, nous avons tenté d’identifier le récepteur à andro...
N-oleoyl-dopamine (OLDA) is an amide of dopamine and oleic acid, synthesized in catecholaminergic neurons. The present study investigates OLDA targets in midbrain dopaminergic (DA) neurons. Substantia Nigra compacta (SNc) DA neurons recorded in brain slices were excited by OLDA in wild type mice. In transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1)...
Introduction
The ventrolateral preoptic area (VLPO) plays an essential role in the initiation and maintenance of sleep. It contains a cluster of sleep-active neurons that are GABAergic and co-expresses galanin (VLPOGABA/Gal). VLPO is innervated by wake-promoting neurons and the VLPOGABA/Gal neurons are strongly inhibited by noradrenaline, carbachol...
https://d-nb.info/1156007771/34
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00011-014-0751-3
