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Research fields
Team 03:
Cellular and molecular neurobiology
of the somatosensory system
Heads: Jean Valmier, PU
Pathologies of the somatosensory system, called peripheral sensory neuropathies concern at least 3 million people in France with a prevalence which increases considerably with age and cause multiple sensory deficits (pains, stability disorder, walk, touch). Post-traumatic neuropathies are most frequent (approximately 50% of peripheral neuropathies), generally chronic and for the majority resistant to the current treatments.
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The objective of our team is to characterize the molecules and the mechanisms which control the installation and the operation of the somatosensory system and those brought into play in post-traumatic neuropathies. To answer these questions, we developed two complementary approaches:
1/ In molecular physiology (team leader: Frédérique Scamps), we established an in vitro model of post-traumatic neuropathy by lesion of the sciatic nerve. The damaged sensory neurons of the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) preserve in vitro the functional modifications (regenerative growth and hyperexcitability) observed in neurons axotomized in vivo. We identified new molecules, the such calcium activate chloride channels, of the calcium channels, the mitochondrial pumps, potentially implicated in the physiopathology of peripheral neuropathic pain.
1/ In functional genomics (team leader: Patrick Carroll), we established five SAGE banks from DRG at various stages of development and after axotomy of the peripheral nerve. These banks offer to us a global vision of the gene expression in this tissue. Their data are currently the subject of bioinformatics and molecular studies which have already allowed us to highlight particularly interesting candidate genes whose function is at present unknown.
This approach should make it possible to identify new specific markers of functionally definite sensory neuron subpopulations and to decode the molecular bases of post-traumatic peripheral neuropathies.
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