Research by Dr. Martin Lévesque team is highlighted in Université Laval’s newspaper, Le Fil. Learn more about these important discoveries in the article by Jean Hamann:
Winning circuits – Researchers suggest a new approach to improve neuron grafts in people suffering from Parkinson’s disease
Treating people affected by Parkinson’s disease by grafting healthy neurons is an attractive idea which has not yet given the anticipated results up until now. Even if grafted neurons survive, they are not able to recreate the dopaminergic neuron circuits that are essential for normal brain function. An international team led by Martin Lévesque, professor at Université Laval and researcher at the CERVO Brain Research Centre, might have figured out why. In a recent edition of Nature Communications, the researchers propose a “recipe” to produce neurons that could reconstitute the neuron circuits that are destroyed by Parkinson’s disease.
Read the article (in French) in Le Fil
Read the original research article in Nature Communications (open):
Chabrat A, Brisson G, Doucet-Beaupré H, Salesse C, Schaan Profes M, Dovonou A, Akitegetse C, Charest J, Lemstra S, Côté D, Pasterkamp RJ, Abrudan MI, Metzakopian E, Ang SL, Lévesque M. Transcriptional repression of Plxnc1 by Lmx1a and Lmx1b directs topographic dopaminergic circuit formation. Nat Commun. 2017 Oct 16;8(1):933. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01042-0.