Christian Lüscher
Affiliations: Faculty of Medecine, Department of Basic Neurosciences
Group name: Addiction and Dopamine System
Domains: Development and Plasticity
Keywords: addiction, dependence, dopamine system, drug, synaptic plasticity
Research activities
Our lab is interested in cellular mechanisms that underlie drug reinforcement, dependence and addiction. We believe that the core of these diseases can be understood as neuroadaptive changes and pathological synaptic plasticity, which are initiated by the effects of addictive drugs on the mesolimbic dopamine system. We look at its origin, the ventral tegmental area (VTA), where we use electrophysiology (whole cell patch clamp) and imaging in acute slices of mice in combination with pharmacological, genetic and behavioral tools. Two lines of experiments are carried out in parallel: first, we characterize the role of Kir3/GIRK channels that are effectors of G protein coupled receptors (and therefore effectors of opioids, cannabinoids and g-hydoxybutyrate). Second, we test how addictive drugs such as cocaine affect synaptic plasticity in the VTA.
Latest publications
Aberrant habit formation in the Sapap3-knockout mouse model of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Social transmission of food safety depends on synaptic plasticity in the prefrontal cortex.
Author Correction: Biomarkers for closed-loop deep brain stimulation in Parkinson disease and beyond.
The Molecular Basis of Drug Addiction: Linking Epigenetic to Synaptic and Circuit Mechanisms.
Videos
Contact
Faculté de médecine
Université de Genève
Email: Christian.Luscher@unige.ch