Physiology and physiopathology of the gliovascular unit
Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche en Biologie (CIRB)
CNRS UMR 7241 / INSERM U1050 / Collège de France
11 place Marcelin Berthelot
75005 Paris
France
T: 01 44 27 12 42
E: martine.cohen-salmon@college-de-france.fr
W: www.college-de-france.fr/site/en-cirb/cohen-salmon.htm
The laboratory of Dr. Cohen-Salmon is located in the Centre interdisciplinaire de Recherche en Biologie (CIRB) Collège de France in Paris. They are a fundamental neurobiology laboratory focusing on the role of specific cells of the brain: the astrocytes. These cells have the unique property to contact and regulate the vascular system in the brain and she studies these specific regulations. MLC1, the gene mutated in most MLC patients, codes for the protein MLC1 that is a molecular marker of the contacts between astrocytes and the blood vessels in the brain. This is the reason why Dr. Cohen-Salmon has hypothesized that MLC might be a pathology related to this specific brain interface. Using a mouse model of MLC, she has recently shown that MLC starts with early defects in the formation of the astrocytic vascular contacts, leading to early defects of the vascular system (alteration of the blood flow and of the brain drainage). Since these alterations occur much before the myelin alteration, it is believed that they are precursors in the disease progression and therefore are therapeutic targets to consider. Future projects aim to further characterize the MLC-linked vascular alterations and to see if by rescuing them, the disease progression could be stopped.
