Cellular and Molecular Neurophysiology

Constance Hammond is an INSERM director of research at the Mediterranean Institute of Neurobiology. A renowned Parkinson's disease investigator, in 2012 she became a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in recognition for her services to scientific communication. Studying biology at the University of Pierre and Marie Curie and the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris she completed her thesis in neurosciences at the Marey Institute in Paris, directed by Prof. D. Albe-Fessard. Guided by her curiosity and her constant desire to learn, she changed lab and research domains several times. With the knowledge of other systems and the mastering of other techniques she finally came back to her first and preferred subject of research; the role of the subthalamic nucleus in the basal ganglia system in health and Parkinson's disease.

Part I. Neurons: Excitable and Secretory Cells That Establish Synapses1. Neurons2. Neuron – Glial Cell Cooperation3. Ionic Gradients, Membrane Potential and Ionic Currents4. The Voltage-Gated Channels of Na+ Action Potentials5. The Voltage-Gated Channels of Ca+2 Action Potentials: Generalization6. The Chemical Synapses7. Neurotransmitter Release

Part II. Ionotropic and Metabotropic Receptors in Synaptic Transmission and Sensory Transduction8. The Ionotropic Nicotinic Acetycholine Receptors9. The Ionotropic GABAA Receptor10. The Ionotropic Glutamate Receptors11. The Metabotropic GABAB Receptors12. The Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors

Part III. Somato-Dendritic Processing and Plasticity of Postsynaptic Potentials13. Somato-Dendritic Processing of Postsynaptic Potentials I: Passive Properties of Dendrites14. Subliminal Voltage-Gated Currents of the Somato-Dendritic Membrane15. Somato-Dendritic Processing of Postsynaptic Potentials II: Role of Subthreshold Depolarizing Voltage-Gated Currents16. Somato-Dendritic Processing of Postsynaptic Potentials III: Role of High Voltage-Activated Depolarizing Currents17. Firing Patterns of Neurons18. Synaptic Plasticity

Part IV. The Adult Hippocampal Network19. The Adult Hippocampal Network20. Maturation of the Hippocampal Network