Arturo Andrade
Brown University, RI·Neuroscience
Cannabis can have opposite effects depending on the dose. Low doses can ease anxiety, while high doses can cause it, and memory shows similar mixed effects.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Pharmacology
Physiology
- Topics
CaV2.2
N-type calcium channel
voltage-gated calcium channels
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Apr 2027
What they work on
- Determine how the +18a-CaV2.2 and Δ18a-CaV2.2 calcium channel splice variants affect neurotransmitter release at hippocampal synapses, using electrophysiology in brain slices from mice restricted to one variant.
- Determine whether these splice variants change how strongly cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1R) activation suppresses transmitter release in the hippocampus.
- Test whether the 21-amino-acid insertion in +18a-CaV2.2 changes how the channel binds SNARE release-machinery proteins, using biochemical protein interaction assays.
- Use recombinase-based genetic labeling to record from specific neuron types in the hippocampus and compare how each channel variant behaves in each cell type.
More about the research
Why this happens is unclear. One clue lies in how cannabinoids act at synapses, the junctions where neurons pass signals. There, the cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1R) reduces the release of neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers neurons use to communicate. It does this partly by blocking CaV2.2 (N-type) calcium channels. These channels let calcium into nerve endings, which triggers neurotransmitter release. In the hippocampus, a brain region for learning and emotion, these channels are essential.
Why it matters
Cannabinoids are widely used both recreationally and as medicines, yet their effects on the brain can be contradictory. By identifying cell-specific channel variants that control how cannabinoids affect signaling between neurons, this work could help explain those mixed effects. It could also point to targets for developing more precise cannabinoid-based therapies.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Hongkyun Kim
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, IL·Neuroscience
Test whether a high rate of neurotransmitter release lowers the number of CaV2/UNC-2 calcium channels at C. elegans synapses through negative feedback, using a wide range of mutants that disrupt the release of synaptic vesicles (neurotransmitter-filled sacs).
Matteo Ruggiu
St. John's University-New York, NY·Neuroscience
Test whether alternatively spliced exons of CaV3.1, a voltage-gated calcium channel, are used differently across neuron types in the brain, using an RNAseq bioinformatics pipeline that compares splicing across neuronal subclasses.
Mariana Potcoava
University of Illinois Chicago, IL·Neuroscience·Early-career
Test whether presynaptic Ca2+ signaling and homeostasis drive loss of synaptic transmission at hippocampal excitatory synapses in humanized APOE4 mouse models of Alzheimer's disease.
The school
Brown University: 23 labs on PI Pages, $375M a year on research, 251 research doctorates a year.
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