The role of L-Lactate has expanded from an energy metabolite to a signaling molecule in neurons. Studies have shown that L-Lactate plays a role in neuroprotection and in NMDAR-dependent long-term memory formation. The aim of this dissertation is to characterize the role of L-Lactate as a signaling molecule and understand the molecular mechanism through which L-Lactate potentiates NMDAR signal. Using mass spectrometry, I monitored the time-dependent changes in the phosphoproteome of cortical neuronal cultures in response to Lactate. The phosphoproteomic analysis highlighted a number of cytoskeletal proteins involved in synapse remodeling as well as axon guidance that were regulated by L-Lactate. In addition, I found that L-Lactate induced phosphorylation of proteins involved in the MAPK pathway, as reported in an earlier study. I hypothesize the involvement of CaMKII in this mechanism. CaMKII is one of the most abundant kinases in the brain and plays a role in learning and memory via interaction with NMDAR. Using CaMKII inhibitors and mutants of the NMDAR subunit GluN2B, the findings in this dissertation provide evidence for the involvement of CaMKII, specifically, the interaction between CaMKIIa and GluN2B, as a requirement for the L-Lactate mediated potentiation of NMDAR signal. In addition, to gain insight into the evolution of lactate from a metabolite to a signaling molecule, this study explores the evolution of glutamate as a signaling molecule in multicellular organisms so it may serve as a model for evolution of metabolites like lactate into signaling molecules. For this purpose, the model organism Hydra was used, since it belongs to phylum Cnidaria, evolutionarily one of the first phyla to have a nervous system. In order to explore whether glutamate receptors, particularly, NMDAR are functionally expressed in Hydra and are localized in neurons, a line of transgenic Hydra expressing a calcium indicator (GCaMP6s) in neurons was generated. With the transgenic Hydra line, I attempted to measure the in vivo response of neurons in Hydra to glutamate. This study highlights several ground work experiments with an extensive discussion of implications and challenges and an outlook for future investigations.

Que se passe-t-il quand le système immunitaire attaque le cerveau ? Dans l'encéphalite à autoanticorps dirigés contre les récepteurs NMDA, le système immunitaire des patients dysfonctionne : au lieu de produire des anticorps pour combattre des organismes pathogènes, le système immunitaire produit des anticorps qui attaquent une protéine spécifique dans le cerveau des patients, les récepteurs NMDA. Ces récepteur sont indispensables à la mémoire et sont impliqués dans diverses maladies (schizophrénie, maladie d'Alzheimer). Les patients atteints d'encéphalite à autoanticorps dirigés contre les récepteurs NMDA souffrent de troubles neuropsychiatriques sévères (hallucinations, paranoïa, mouvements anormaux, épilepsie, amnésie, etc.) et la gravité de leur état de santé nécessite une prise en charge en réanimation. Malgré cette sévérité, 8 patients sur 10 récupèrent avec un traitement adapté. Les patients souffrant de cette maladie sont majoritairement des jeunes femmes porteuses d'une tumeur des ovaires. Le premier objectif de ma thèse est de comprendre le rôle de cette tumeur dans le dysfonctionnement du système immunitaire de ces patientes. Mon second objectif est de comprendre comment les autoanticorps attaquant les récepteurs NMDA vont perturber le fonctionnement du cerveau. Apporter des éléments de réponse à ces questions permettra à terme d'améliorer la prise en charge des patients / Anti-NMDA receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis is a rare but severe neuropsychiatric disorder initially described by J. Dalmau and colleagues in 2007. Anti-NMDAR encephalitis is defined by a clinical picture of encephalitis associated with the presence of IgG directed against the GluN1 subunit of NMDAR (NMDAR-Abs) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients. This disorder predominantly affects young women. Clinical presentation usually includes psychiatric symptoms and/or neurological symptoms often accompanied by decreased responsiveness and autonomic instabilities during the course of the disease . Despite the severity of the disease, 81% of patients recover fully or with mild sequels . 38% of patients had an underlying neoplasm, 94% of which were ovarian teratomas , indicating a role for this tumor in the immunopathogenesis of the disease. Studies in vitro and on animal models have demonstrated the pathogenicity of NMDAR-Abs but more studies are required to decipher the pathological role of anti-NMDAR antibodies. Two main research focuses have emerged in our group: understanding the events leading to the immune dysregulation in the ovary teratoma and identifying the pathological element(s) and how they act at the molecular and cellular levels to cause the broad neurological spectrum of symptoms observed in patients. My PhD was especially focused on 1) understanding the involvement of the underlying ovary teratoma in the triggering of the immune response during anti-NMDAR encephalitis and 2) studying the impact of prolonged exposure of the neuronal network to patients’ NMDAR-Abs and the potential involvement of microglial cells in the physiopathology of the disease

In the brain, glycogen, the storage form of glucose, is exclusively localized in astrocytes (Magistretti and Allaman, 2015). Glycogenolysis leads to the production of L-lactate, which is shuttled to neurons for ATP production. Interestingly, L-lactate was recently shown to be not only a source of energy, but also a signaling molecule to neurons. This was demonstrated through the inhibition of L-lactate production or transport in an inhibitory avoidance paradigm, where the rodents developed amnesia. This inhibition of memory consolidation was rescued by L-lactate and not by equicaloric glucose emphasizing that L-lactate acts as a signaling molecule as well (Suzuki et al., 2011). A recent study in our laboratory suggests that the action of L-lactate takes place through a cascade of molecular events via the modulation of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) activity (Yang et al., 2014). Since NADH produced similar results to those seen with L-lactate, it was hypothesized that the action of the latter is based on altering the redox state of the cell, in particular in view of the fact that redox-sensitive sites are present on the NMDAR. However, the precise molecular mechanism underlying the apparent change in the NMDAR activity is not fully elucidated. The objective of this study is to explore those mechanisms.

No description available.

NMDA receptors are the most studied receptors in the field of neuroscience and are known to play an important role in development and plasticity. These receptors exhibit different kinetics depending on their subunit composition. NR2A and NR2B are the predominating NMDAR subunits in the brain. These receptors localize to synapses where they interact with other proteins including CaMKIIα, an abundant kinase which plays an important role in synaptic plasticity. Although CaMKIIα is known to bind to all types of NMDARs, it exhibits a higher affinity to NR2B compared to NR2A subunits. Studies have shown that lactate acts as a signaling molecule promoting the expression of genes related to synaptic plasticity via NMDARs activation. However, the mechanism describing how lactate exerts these effects is not well understood. We hypothesize that the redox state change, resulting from the metabolic conversion of lactate to pyruvate, may promote the interaction between CaMKIIα and NMDARs, thereby potentiating NMDARs activity. To tackle this question, we used a pharmacogenetics model consisting of NMDARs expressing HEK293 cells in the presence or absence of CaMKIIα. To monitor NMDARs activity, we use the ratio-metric calcium dye Fura-2 in calcium imaging experiments. We report that L-lactate decreases the peak responses of the NR2A and NR2B NMDARs in the absence of CaMKII expression. Upon CaMKII presence, we found that lactate prolongs the activation period of GluN2B as observed during the washout period and modestly increase the peak response of GluN2A NMDARs. Interestingly, we confirm that expressing CaMKIIα in control (no lactate) HEK cells significantly augmented NR2B but not NR2A NMDARs. We also report that pyruvate was able to increase peak responses of both NR2A and NR2B NMDARs in the absence of CaMKII, while it only increased the NR2A-NMDAR peak responses in the presence of CaMKII. These results suggest that lactate exerts a neuroprotective effect in the absence of CaMKII and it slightly boosts NR2B NMDARs activity when CaMKII is expressed, possibly favoring plasticity. Moreover, data obtained with pyruvate indicates that in our HEK cell model pyruvate affects the NMDARs in a manner independent of the presence of CaMKII through an alternative mechanism.

Le vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) un facteur de croissance essentiel du système vasculaire exerce des fonctions multiples sur les cellules nerveuses en favorisant la neurogenèse, la plasticité synaptique ou encore l'apprentissage et la mémoire. Cependant, les mécanismes impliqués dans son action régulatrice de la transmission et la plasticité synaptiques restent à élucider. Nous avons récemment mis en évidence une nouvelle interaction entre VEGFR2, le récepteur principal du VEGF, et les récepteurs NMDA (NMDAR) au cours de la migration des neurones pendant le développement du cervelet. Comme les NMDAR sont des acteurs clés de la transmission et de la plasticité synaptique, nous avons exploré le rôle du VEGF dans la régulation de l'expression et de la fonction des NMDAR synaptiques dans l'hippocampe. Nos résultats révèlent que le VEGF et son récepteur sont exprimés dans les régions CA1 et CA3 de l'hippocampe et le domaine extracellulaire de VEGFR2 peut se lier à la sous-unité GluN2B des NMDAR. Le VEGF est capable d'augmenter la transmission synaptique dépendant des NMDAR en régulant l'adressage synaptique des récepteurs exprimant la sous-unité GluN2B. Il se produit également une augmentation du nombre de synapses en présence du VEGF. Ces effets du VEGF requièrent la co-activation des récepteurs VEGFR2 et NMDAR et conduisent à un enrichissement synaptique en récepteurs glutamatergiques de type AMPA qui dépend de l'activation de la CaMKII. Nos travaux démontrent pour la première fois un rôle direct de la signalisation VEGF/VEGFR2 dans la fonction de la synapse excitatrice glutamatergique / The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a critical role during vascular development but recent evidence indicates that it also regulates various neuronal processes in the nervous system, such as neurogenesis, hippocampal synaptic plasticity, learning and memory. Recently, we showed a novel interaction between the glutamate receptor NMDA (NMDAR) and the VEGF receptor VEGFR2 during neuronal migration in the developing cerebellum. As NMDAR have been widely implicated in synaptic transmission and plasticity, we hypothesized that VEGF might regulate NMDAR function in hippocampal synaptic transmission and plasticity, as well as in learning and memory. Our results revealed that VEGF and its receptor VEGFR2 are expressed in the CA1 and CA3 regions of the hippocampus. Biochemical exploration highlighted an interaction between the extracellular domain of VEGFR2 and the GluN2B subunit of NMDAR. In addition, whole-cell patch clamp experiments in acute hippocampal slices showed that VEGF potentiates post-synaptic GluN2B-expressing NMDAR responses. Furthermore NMDAR and VEGFR2 co-activation in hippocampal neurons increased the pool of synaptic GluN2B-NMDAR and affects synapse number. These processes are associated with an increase in AMPAR synaptic expression and an involvment of CaMKII signaling pathway. Altogether, our results demonstrated for the first time a direct effect of VEGF on the function of excitatory glutamatergic synapses

O Acidente vascular cerebral é uma doença aguda neuroinflamatória cuja prevalência aumentou nos últimos anos. Seus sintomas são decorrente da morte neuronal provocada pela privação de glicose e oxigênio. Após a morte neuronal, há liberação de citocinas, radicais livres e neurotransmissores, dentre eles o glutamato. Nosso objetivo é averiguar como o glutamato através do seu receptor NMDA modula a resposta inflamatória tanto de células residentes do SNC, quanto de células imunes infiltrantes. Para a realização desse estudos, realizamos experimentos in vitro e in vivo com o bloqueador do NMDAr, sob o processo de hipóxia. Nossos resultados demonstraram que a sinalização por NMDAr modula a expressão de moléculas envolvidas na apresentação de antígeno em células da microglia e macrófagos, bem como na produção de óxido nítrico por neutrófilos. O seu bloqueio diminui morte celular e lesão cerebral. Por fim, nossa pesquisa mostra que a sinalização NMDAr está envolvido não só com excitotoxicidade, mas também com a modulação da resposta da células inata. / Stroke is an acute neuroinflammatory disease whose prevalence has increased in recent years. Its symptoms are due to the neuronal death caused by the deprivation of glucose and oxygen. After neuronal death, there is release of cytokines, free radicals and neurotransmitters, among them glutamate. Our goal is to investigate how glutamate through its NMDA receptor modulates the inflammatory response of both resident CNS cells and infiltrating immune cells. For the accomplishment of these studies, we performed experiments in vitro and in vivo with the NMDAr blocker under the hypoxia process. Our results demonstrated that NMDAr signaling modulates the expression of molecules involved in the presentation of antigen in microglia and macrophages cells, as well as in the production of nitric oxide by neutrophils. Its blockage decreases cell death and brain damage. Finally, our research shows that NMDAr signaling is involved not only with excitotoxicity, but also with the modulation of the innate cell response.

Antidepressants are generally believed to exert their clinical efficacy by enhancing 5-HT transmission. Interestingly, sustained administration of selective serotonin (5-HT) reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) strongly suppresses in the first few days the firing activity of 5-HT neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), thereby severely hampering the increase of 5-HT in target regions. Remarkably, the firing activity of 5-HT neurons gradually recovers over the time course of treatment and this recovery is believed to be accounted for by the desensitization of 5-HT1A somatodendritic autoreceptors. Here, we sought to investigate whether additional mechanisms might contribute to the dynamic regulation of excitability of 5-HT neurons during the course of SSRI treatments. Borrowing from the well-described homeostatic strengthening of glutamatergic synapses onto cortical pyramidal neurons following prolonged periods of inactivity, we hypothesized that a similar homeostatic-like regulation of synaptic strength might be operant on 5-HT cells during an SSRI treatment. To test this possibility, we used whole-cell electrophysiological recordings on acute midbrain slices to monitor glutamatergic synapses onto 5-HT neurons. We found that a two-day treatment with the SSRI citalopram induced a robust reduction in both the amplitude and frequency of AMPAR-mediated mEPSCs. We also show that this depression in synaptic strength, induced by an SSRI, is transient since excitatory drive onto 5-HT neurons was enhanced by 7 days of treatments. Altogether, these results document a dynamic regulation of glutamatergic synaptic transmission during the time course of a prolonged treatment with an SSRI. Further elucidation of the cellular and molecular mechanisms driving this synaptic plasticity might identify novel pharmacological target to shorten the delay of antidepressant action.

Antidepressants are generally believed to exert their clinical efficacy by enhancing 5-HT transmission. Interestingly, sustained administration of selective serotonin (5-HT) reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) strongly suppresses in the first few days the firing activity of 5-HT neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), thereby severely hampering the increase of 5-HT in target regions. Remarkably, the firing activity of 5-HT neurons gradually recovers over the time course of treatment and this recovery is believed to be accounted for by the desensitization of 5-HT1A somatodendritic autoreceptors. Here, we sought to investigate whether additional mechanisms might contribute to the dynamic regulation of excitability of 5-HT neurons during the course of SSRI treatments. Borrowing from the well-described homeostatic strengthening of glutamatergic synapses onto cortical pyramidal neurons following prolonged periods of inactivity, we hypothesized that a similar homeostatic-like regulation of synaptic strength might be operant on 5-HT cells during an SSRI treatment. To test this possibility, we used whole-cell electrophysiological recordings on acute midbrain slices to monitor glutamatergic synapses onto 5-HT neurons. We found that a two-day treatment with the SSRI citalopram induced a robust reduction in both the amplitude and frequency of AMPAR-mediated mEPSCs. We also show that this depression in synaptic strength, induced by an SSRI, is transient since excitatory drive onto 5-HT neurons was enhanced by 7 days of treatments. Altogether, these results document a dynamic regulation of glutamatergic synaptic transmission during the time course of a prolonged treatment with an SSRI. Further elucidation of the cellular and molecular mechanisms driving this synaptic plasticity might identify novel pharmacological target to shorten the delay of antidepressant action.

Antidepressants are generally believed to exert their clinical efficacy by enhancing 5-HT transmission. Interestingly, sustained administration of selective serotonin (5-HT) reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) strongly suppresses in the first few days the firing activity of 5-HT neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), thereby severely hampering the increase of 5-HT in target regions. Remarkably, the firing activity of 5-HT neurons gradually recovers over the time course of treatment and this recovery is believed to be accounted for by the desensitization of 5-HT1A somatodendritic autoreceptors. Here, we sought to investigate whether additional mechanisms might contribute to the dynamic regulation of excitability of 5-HT neurons during the course of SSRI treatments. Borrowing from the well-described homeostatic strengthening of glutamatergic synapses onto cortical pyramidal neurons following prolonged periods of inactivity, we hypothesized that a similar homeostatic-like regulation of synaptic strength might be operant on 5-HT cells during an SSRI treatment. To test this possibility, we used whole-cell electrophysiological recordings on acute midbrain slices to monitor glutamatergic synapses onto 5-HT neurons. We found that a two-day treatment with the SSRI citalopram induced a robust reduction in both the amplitude and frequency of AMPAR-mediated mEPSCs. We also show that this depression in synaptic strength, induced by an SSRI, is transient since excitatory drive onto 5-HT neurons was enhanced by 7 days of treatments. Altogether, these results document a dynamic regulation of glutamatergic synaptic transmission during the time course of a prolonged treatment with an SSRI. Further elucidation of the cellular and molecular mechanisms driving this synaptic plasticity might identify novel pharmacological target to shorten the delay of antidepressant action.