Jean-Pierre Mothet CNRS - Universite Aix-Marseille II et III

Brain D-serine : from gliotransmission to the orchestration of synaptic functions

– Jean-Pierre Mothet dirige l’équipe "gliotransmission et synaptopathies"
– Centre de Recherche en Neurobiologie et Neurophysiologie de Marseille
– UMR6231-CNRS-Universite Aix-Marseille II et III

Ce séminaire est organisé par le laboratoire de Neurobiologie

Résumé :
D-Amino acids have historically been regarded as ‘unnatural’ and not present in mammals. Almost 20 years ago, different groups have shown that the mammalian brain contains unusually high levels of free D-serine. We have discovered that D-serine synthesized and released notably by glia is a key brain messenger that gates the functions of NMDA receptors at glutamatergic synapses. During my talk, I will describe the molecular machinery driving D-serine release from glia and how D-serine orchestrates the dialogue between dopamine and glutamate in the prefrontal cortex with implication for human disease.