Inhibitory Signalling Switches Define The Machinery Of Synaptic Vesicle Endocytosis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$387,489.00
Summary
The nerve cells in our brains are in constant communication to sustain life. Communication involves one nerve cell responding to electrical stimulation by releasing chemical messengers, from vesicles, onto the next cell. Our research focuses on the mechanism of recycling of vesicles. Targeting this mechanism is a way to gain fundamental knowledge of how to intervene medically when communication fails, or when communication needs to be dampened, in neurological diseases.
Diabetic neuropathy causes severe disability, with pain, loss of sensation and weakness. The current project will assess the utility of a new testing method, known as nerve excitability assessment, as a method of detecting early changes in nerve function in diabetic patients. If this technique proves useful in detecting early nerve damage, it will assist in the development of therapeutic and preventative treatments for neuropathy in diabetic patients.
Mechanisms Controlling Sympathetic Nerve Activity To The Heart
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$101,220.00
Summary
In heart failure there is a large increase in sympathetic nerve activity to the heart and the kidney that has detrimental effects which is related to mortality in patients. The areas in the brain causing the increased nerve activity to the heart are unknown. We will investigate the role of two key brain areas in mediating this increase. In addition we will also focus on local mechanisms that are responsible for the increase in noradrenaline spillover.