Pierre-jean Corringer
Neurology
The European Neuroscience Institute in Paris, Pasteur
France
Biography
His group is interested in a particular class of channels, which carry an internal gate undergoing opening/closing motions in response to ligands: Ligand-gated ion channel (LGICs). Among them, the pentameric LGICs (pLGICs) compose a large superfamily of phylogeneticaly-related membrane proteins, for which more than 40 genes are found in the human, accomplish a wide range of function in the cellular communication, particularly in neuronal communication. This superfamily includes nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), which mediate important pathways of cholinergic neuromodulation in the brain, GABA-A and glycine receptors, which mediate the majority of the inhibitory transmission in the brain and the spinal cord, as well as GABA-C and 5HT3 receptors. These proteins are involved in much human pathology, and are the target of important therapeutic drugs including nicotinic derivatives, anxiolytics and anesthetics.
Research Interest
Neurology
