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.

Neurons
Neuron-glial cell cooperation
Ionic gradients, membrane potential, and ionic currents
The voltage-gated channels of Na+ action potentials
The voltage-gated channels of Ca2+ action potentials: generalization
The chemical synapses
Neurotransmitter release
The ionotropic nicotinic acetylcholine receptors
The ionotropic GABAA receptor
The ionotropic glutamate receptors
The metabotropic GABAB receptors
The metabotropic glutamate receptors
The metabotropic olfactory receptors
Somatodendritic processing of postsynaptic potentials I: passive properties of dendrites
Subliminal voltage-gated currents of the somatodendritic membrane
Somatodendritic processing of postsynaptic potentials II. Role of subthreshold voltage-gated currents
Somatodendritic processing of postsynaptic potentials III. Role of high-voltageeactivated currents
Firing patterns of neurons
Synaptic plasticity
The adult hippocampal network
Morphogenesis and maturation of the hippocampal network
Chapter techniques