Les cellules chromaffines des glandes surrénales sont des cellules neuroendocrines excitables impliquées dans la sécrétion de catécholamines. En réponse à un stress, ces hormones, parmi les premières à être libérées exercent de multiples actions sur leurs organes-cibles, contribuant à la réponse adaptive de l'organisme. Ainsi, élucider la physiopathologie du stress est un enjeu de santé publique et mieux connaître les mécanismes permettant au tissu médullosurrénalien d'optimiser la sécrétion de catécholamines aux besoins de l'organisme est un défi à relever.La sécrétion des catécholamines est liée à l'activité électrique des cellules chromaffines et élucider les mécanismes cellulaires qui en contrôlent l'excitabilité est d'intérêt. L'activité électrique de ces cellules est régulée par le nerf splanchnique ainsi que par des conductances ioniques intrinsèques. Dans ce contexte, les conductances opérant autour du potentiel de repos jouent un rôle majeur dans le déclenchement des potentiels d'action. C'est en particulier le cas du canal NALCN (sodium leak channel), récemment décrit comme régulant le potentiel de repos des neurones. C'est pourquoi nous avons orienté nos travaux vers la caractérisation du rôle de NALCN dans l'excitabilité des cellules chromaffines, dans des tranches de glandes surrénales de souris. L'enregistrement du potentiel de membrane révèle qu'environ 62% des cellules chromaffines présentent des potentiels d'action spontanés et que le profil de décharge suit un mode régulier ou un mode en bouffées. Des enregistrements plus longs révèlent qu'une même cellule présente alternativement ces 2 modes de décharge. Un changement de potentiel de quelques mV autour du potentiel de repos favorise un mode, indiquant que les courants ioniques actifs autour du potentiel de repos sont des composantes cruciales de l'excitabilité cellulaire. NALCN est-il un de ces courants?Pour commencer, nous avons observé, par hybridation in situ, la présence du transcrit codant NALCN dans les cellules chromaffines chez la souris (coll Dr. Ventéo, INM, Montpellier). Nous avons alors cherché à déterminer si NALCN est impliqué dans l'activité électrique des cellules chromaffines. Nous avons utilisé un protocole de diminution de la concentration extracellulaire de Na+, classiquement utilisé pour l'étude électrophysiologique de NALCN. La diminution du Na+ extracellulaire induit une hyperpolarisation et un arrêt des potentiels d'action. Cet effet n'est pas bloqué par la TTX. En potentiel imposé, la diminution du Na+ réduit le courant de maintien, elle n'est ni bloquée par la TTX ni par le Cs+. La courbe courant/potentiel du courant sensible à la réduction du Na+ révèle un courant linéaire entre -130 et -50 mV et un potentiel d'inversion en accord avec la contribution de plusieurs espèces ioniques. Ce courant présente une perméabilité majeure au Na+ vs K+. Ainsi, ces résultats décrivent une conductance ionique partageant des propriétés biophysiques et pharmacologiques similaires à celles de NALCN.Afin de poursuivre dans cette direction, nous avons initié des travaux ambitieux visant à éteindre l'expression du gène codant NALCN dans les cellules chromaffines, au travers d'une stratégie d'injection de virus in vivo. Une construction codant pour un shRNA dirigé contre NALCN, a été injectée dans la glande surrénale gauche. Les résultats sont très encourageants, montrant i) la présence, dans les glandes injectées, de cellules chromaffines transduites et ii) une diminution significative de l'expression de NALCN dans les glandes injectées avec le ShRNA-anti NALCN. Cette approche de transduction virale mérite d'être poursuivie.En conclusion, et même si les résultats actuels ne permettent pas d'affirmer avec certitude que NALCN contribue à l'excitabilité des cellules chromaffines, ce travail de thèse apporte néanmoins une contribution majeure à l'étude de l'excitabilité de ces cellules et ouvre des perspectives attractives quant au rôle de NALCN. / Adrenal chromaffin cells are excitable neuroendocrine cells involved in the secretion of catecholamines. Once delivered into the blood circulation, these hormones exert multiple actions, leading to physiological adjustments enabling the organism to cope with stress. Deciphering the physiology/pathology of stress is a major public health issue, especially in the field of the mechanisms that lead to optimal catecholamine secretion.The electrical activity of chromaffin cells critically shapes the catecholamine secretory pattern. Elucidating the mechanisms regulating the firing discharge is therefore of interest. In situ, chromaffin cell excitability is regulated by both the splanchnic nerve inputs and the intrinsic ion conductances expressed in cells. Regarding this, the conductances operating near the resting membrane potential are crucial in the cell competence to spontaneously fire. In particular, the background current flowing through the sodium leak channel NALCN has been recently reported to tune the resting potential of neuronal cells. This finding prompted us to investigate the possible contribution of NALCN to chromaffin cell excitability in mouse acute adrenal slices. The first part of my thesis was aimed at investigating chromaffin cell electrical firing pattern. Whole-cell recordings indicate that about 62% of mouse chromaffin cell spontaneously fire and exhibit two discharge patterns, a regular firing mode and a bursting mode. Long-lasting recordings of spontaneous electrical activity reveal that the two firing modes can occur in the same cells. When the membrane potential is challenged around the resting value, the firing pattern alternate between the two modes, indicating that currents operating around the resting membrane potential are key components in regulating cell excitability. Is NALN one of these currents?To answer this question, we first unveiled, by in situ hybridization, the presence of the transcript encoding NALCN in mouse chromaffin cells (coll with Dr. Ventéo, INM, Montpellier). Second, we performed electrophysiological experiments using protocols and pharmacological agents commonly used to study NALCN currents. Decreasing external NaCl leads to a robust membrane hyperpolarization, abrogating action potentials. This effect is not blocked by TTX. In voltage-clamp conditions, external Na+ reduction leads to a decrease in the holding current. This effect is not blocked by Cs+. Depolarizing voltage ramps unveil that the current blocked by lowering external Na+ blocks is linear between -130 and -50 mV, and displays a reversal potential arguing for a non-selective conductance. The ionic permeability is dominant for Na+ over K+. Collectively, our results describe a voltage-independent and non-selective cationic conductance operating near the resting potential of mouse chromaffin cells. Its electrophysiological and pharmacological properties recapitulate two NALCN attributes.In the third part, we developed an ambitious approach aiming at silencing NALCN expression specifically in chromaffin cells in vivo. Viral vectors encoding anti-NALCN shRNA under the control of the tyrosine hydroxylase promoter, as well as appropriate positive and negative viral constructs, were injected in the left gland. As promising results, transduced cells were detected in the injected glands only and a significant decrease in NALCN expression was observed in glands injected with the anti-NALCN shRNA. As such, the data collected from in vivo manipulation of NALCN expression are encouraging and this approach deserves to be pursued.This thesis describes a Na+-sensitive current operating near the resting membrane potential of mouse chromaffin cells, sharing biophysical and pharmacological properties with NALCN. Even though further experiments are needed to ascertain that NALCN supports this conductance, our work contributes to a better knowledge of chromaffin cell excitability.

Heterozygous and recently identified homozygous mutations in the SPTBN2 gene, encoding b-III spectrin, are implicated in spinocerebellar ataxia type 5 (SCA5) and spectrin-associated autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia type 1 (SPARCA1), respectively. Our mouse model, lacking b-III spectrin (KO), mimics the progressive human phenotype displaying motor deficiencies as well as reduced Purkinje cell firing frequency followed by dendritic tree degeneration and cell death. The aims of this study were to evaluate progression of Purkinje cell degeneration following loss of b-III spectrin function and determine whether the reintroduction of C-terminus (C-trm) of b-III spectrin to the cerebellum is enough to halt, alleviate or reverse the disease phenotype. Additionally, this study investigated whether the abnormal electrophysiological and morphological phenotypes of Purkinje cells from KO mice are re-capitulated in a primary cerebellar culture and if so, whether they could be rescued by modulating calcium signaling. Morphological and histological analyses revealed that Purkinje cell degeneration is not uniform throughout the cerebellum of KO mice with Purkinje cells from posterior cerebellar regions possessing significantly smaller dendritic trees when compared to anterior cerebellum (p=0.0003, N=4-6, n=11-29). Similarly, significant reduction in Purkinje cell density was observed in posterior, not anterior regions of KO mice when compared to WT animals (p=0.014, N=3) and reduced tonic firing is most significant in Purkinje cells from the posterior cerebellum compared to WT mice (p=0.0328, N=3-6, n=11-29), with posterior KO PCs appearing to have elevated input resistance. Two-week expression of C-trm b-III spectrin in 3-month old KO animals significantly reduced Purkinje cell input resistance when compared to non-transduced cells (p=0.0139, N=4-5, n=15), but no effect was seen 9 months after viral injection. In contrast, a difference in cell surface area was no longer detected between WT and KO animals at 12 months of age following 9-months of viral expression. Nevertheless, using the elevated beam test motor deterioration was still observed 5 months after surgery (p=0.0023, N=4). In contrast, earlier stereotaxic injections at 6-weeks of age had a positive effect on mice motor performance with no deterioration in performance detected 5 months after the surgery. Latency to stay on the rotarod at 3 rpm was also significantly extended 6 months after stereotaxic injections at 6-weeks of age with slower motor deterioration (p=0.0348, N=6). In primary cerebellar cultures, Purkinje cells from KO animals exhibit an abnormal morphology with significantly more dendritic branches (p < 0.0001, N=4-7, n=35-69) and a larger total dendritic length (p=0.0079). Chronic application of 2 μM mibefradil, a T-type calcium channel blocker, was observed to reduce total dendritic length and branching in KO animal cultures bringing these morphological measurements closer to WT Purkinje cell levels. Finally although after 14 days in vitro 40% of Purkinje cells were found to be spontaneously firing, no significant difference in firing frequency (p=0.9434) or input resistance (p=0.8434, N=4, n=6-10) was detectable between WT and KO cultures. In summary, Purkinje cells in posterior cerebellar regions of KO mice were found to be more susceptible to dendritic degeneration and cellular death than cells in the anterior cerebellum. Expression of C-trm b-III spectrin at 3 months of age had an immediate effect on cell input resistance and a modest effect on Purkinje cell morphology but no effect on motor decline. Viral injections at 6-weeks of age, however, significantly slowed motor decline. Although an abnormal KO cell morphology could be successfully recapitulated in primary cell culture, it was not possible to discern any differences in electrophysiological properties. Nevertheless, the abnormal cell morphology was successfully modified in vitro by manipulating calcium signaling via T-type calcium channels.