FEB/MAR 2007
Volume 13 - No. 1
SRNT Newsletter
February/March 2007, Volume 13, Number 1
Featured Program
The Pharmacology Lab at the University of Verona
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In 2003, Professor Fumagalli was appointed Dean of Exercise and Sport Science Faculty at the University of Verona. At that time, upon identifying common interests, Christian Chiamulera, Pharm.D., M.Sc., joined Fumagalli's lab. This year Christian received a permanent appointment as Associate Professor in Pharmacology. Christian came from an industrial career at Glaxo Research, where he worked as a behavioral pharmacologist on neuropsychiatry projects. He was in charge of drug addiction projects, particularly those studying nicotine dependence, and he also collaborated with clinical and development programs, including those for bupropion SR.
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Lab students (from left to right) Jan Johansson, Vincenzo Tedesco, Chiara Giuliano, Anna Carlotta, Dalfini, and Emanuela Bersan. |
The Fumagalli lab is currently comprised of post-doctoral fellows, Elena Formaggio and Ilaria Decimo; Ph.D. students, Jan Johansson, Anna Carlotta Dalfini, Chiara Giuliano, and Emanuela Bersan; a graduate student, Vincenzo Tedesco, and permanent staff members Marzia Di Chio (senior technician) and Christian Chiamulera. The facility includes both molecular/cellular biology equipment (cell culture, histology, PCR, chromatography) and in vivo rooms (conditioning apparatus, surgery, housing). Space has been dedicated to microscopy instruments, which include a confocal laser microscope, an inverted fluorescent microscope for living biological imaging, plus other fluorescent and light microscopes.
The availability of these diverse technologies offers the possibility to (1) perform in vivo/ex vivo correlational studies of behavioral and molecular/cellular processes and (2) design projects along parallel in vivo and in vitro research lines. For example, we are currently investigating mechanisms of neuroadaptation that may underlie nicotine's effects in the brain. In vitro studies with cortical neurons in culture are being used to test nicotine's effects on neurotrophin receptors expression (Jan), and, simultaneously, the same nicotine effect is being evaluated in vivo in rat brain after chronic exposure to nicotine delivered by subcutaneous osmotic minipumps (Elena).
Another key project is an investigation of the role of nicotine-associated cues on attentional performance in the rat using an operant conditioning model (Chiara). We hypothesize a role of basal forebrain cholinergic projections to cortical brain areas. Therefore, we established an in vitro cell system of cholinergic neurons, namely primary cultures of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons, which allows us to test this mechanistic hypothesis by assessing cholinergic function with immunofluorescence and molecular biology techniques for acetylcholine measurement (Anna Carlotta, in collaboration with the nearby Forensic Medicine Lab's Professor F. Tagliaro). A more recent area of research involves the expression of molecular markers of plasticity and neurogenesis during cognitive processes that may be altered by chronic exposure to nicotine. At present, Marzia, Emanuela and Ilaria (in collaboration with her husband Francesco Bifari) have established the in vitro/ex vivo assessment of plasticity and stem cell markers in rat brain. In an ex-vivo preparation, Vincenzo will be evaluating nicotine self-administration by rats to explore relationships between behavior and molecular events. Collaborations are ongoing with groups in Denmark, US, England, and in Italy.
Our research is embedded within a framework of tobacco addiction as a complex disorder. We hypothesize that chronic exposure to nicotine plays a central role, eventually bringing the smoker's brain to a new, different, homeostasis. We think that a multidisciplinary approach using integrative experimental paradigms - is necessary to better understand basic brain-behavior processes and how these are altered among those addicted to nicotine. This ambitious scope requires a huge amount of work - and of course, resources are always limited! As such, our efforts could be pursued only through stimulating and productive collaborations. So, this is an invitation…
Good-bye from Verona!
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Neuron bearing nicotinic receptors (in red).
The image was taken with a fluorescence microscopy (x40 magnification). The red fluorescence
is expression of alpha-bungarotoxin sensitive receptors, i.e. alpha-7 neuronal nicotinic
receptor subunits. Green fluorescence indicates
neuronal processes, and blue are cell nuclei. The histological preparation was obtained
from primary rat cerebral cortex cells in culture.
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