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 Synapses.Chapter 1: NeuronsChapter 2: Neuron –Glial Cell CooperationChapter 3: Ionic Gradients, Membrane Potential and Ionic CurrentsAppendix 3.1: The active transport of ions by pumps and transporters maintain the unequal distribution of ionsAppendix 3.2: The passive diffusion of ions through an open channelAppendix 3.3: The Nernst equationChapter 4: The Voltage-Gated Channels of Na+ Action PotentialsAppendix 4.1: Current clamp recordingAppendix 4.2: Voltage clamp recordingChapter 5: The Voltage-Gated Channels of Ca+2Action Potentials: GeneralizationAppendix 5.1: Fluorescence measures of intracellular Ca2+ concentrationAppendix 5.2: Tail currentsChapter 6: The Chemical SynapsesAppendix 6.1: Neurotransmitters, agonists and antagonistsAppendix 6.2: Identification and Localization of Neurotransmitters and their ReceptorsChapter 7: Neurotransmitter ReleaseAppendix 7.1: Quantal nature of neurotransmitter releaseAppendix 7.2: The probabilistic nature of neurotransmitter release (the neuromuscular junction as a model)Part 2 – Ionotropic and Metabotropic Receptors in Synaptic Transmission and Sensory Transduction.Chapter 8: The Ionotropic Nicotinic Acetycholine ReceptorsAppendix 8.1: The neuronal nicotinic receptorsChapter 9: The Ionotropic GABAA ReceptorAppendix 9.1: Mean time and mean burst duration of the GABAA single-channel currentAppendix 9.2: Non-invasive measurements of membrane potential and of the reversal potential of the GABAA current using cell-attached recordings of single channelsChapter 10: The Ionotropic Glutamate ReceptorsChapter 11: The Metabotropic GABAB ReceptorsChapter 12: The Metabotropic Glutamate ReceptorsPart 3 – Somato-Dendritic Processing and Plasticity of Postsynaptic Potentials.Chapter 13: Somato-Dendritic Processing of Postsynaptic PotentialsI: Passive Properties of DendritesChapter 14: Subliminal Voltage-Gated Currents of the Somato-Dendritic MembraneChapter 15: Somato-Dendritic Processing of Postsynaptic PotentialsII: Role of Subliminal Depolarizing Voltage-Gated CurrentsChapter 16: Somato-Dendritic Processing of Postsynaptic PotentialsIII: Role of High Voltage-Activated Depolarizing CurrentsChapter 17: Firing Patterns of NeuronsChapter 18: Synaptic PlasticityAppendix 18.1: Depolarization of induced suppression of inhibition (DSI)Part 4 – The Adult Hippocampal Network.Chapter 19: The Adult Hippocampal networkChapter 20: Maturation of the Hippocampal Network