Pedro Grandes: Current research on the endocannabinoid sytem
Dr. Pedro Grandes is visiting UVIC on sabbatical from the University of the Basque Country where he is a Professor in the Department of neurosciences. He is here to expand his research on the endocannabinoid system and share his expertise in brain imaging techniques. Read about his exciting research below.
Our main research interest is to investigate the anatomical localization as well as the functional and pathophysiological significance of the low CB1 receptor expression in glial cells of the rodent brain. This is important to know because the astroglial function in healthy and diseased brain depends on the structural relationship established by the astroglial processes with neuronal compartments, particularly at the synapses where the neurotransmitters are released and have access to the astroglial receptors.
Our efforts are specifically concentrated to decipher how the CB1 receptors are distributed within astroglial as well as other glial cell types with respect to the surrounding excitatory and inhibitory synapses. We are also devoted to study theCB1 receptor distribution in astrocytes of the adult brain under pathological states, such as epilepsy and after THC or ethanol exposure during adolescence. We use advanced brain imaging techniques based on fluorescence and high resolution electron microscopy for studying the precise subcellular, synaptic and subsynaptic localization of the CB1 receptors and other receptor proteins at the brain cells and networks.
READ: Read one of Dr. Grandes' most recent publications: Gutiérrez-Rodríguez, A., Puente, N., Elezgarai, I., Ruehle, S., Lutz, B., Reguero, L., Gerrikagoitia, I., Marsicano, G. and Grandes, P. (2017), Anatomical characterization of the cannabinoid CB1 receptor in cell-type–specific mutant mouse rescue models. J. Comp. Neurol., 525: 302–318. doi:10.1002/cne.24066