Skip to main content
Vai all'homepage della Commissione europea (si apre in una nuova finestra)
italiano italiano
CORDIS - Risultati della ricerca dell’UE
CORDIS
Contenuto archiviato il 2024-06-10

Neurotoxic effects of methyl-mercury in the neocortex of the rat : cellular electrophysiological and mutagenicity studies

Obiettivo


Foreseen Results

As an advantage of the planned collaboration between the 5 laboratories in the frame of the present project, the different methods applied would increase the effectiveness of the diagnosis of subclinical damage to the nervous system in chronic mercury intoxication.
The following questions will be investigated :
the development of sensitive methods to detect neurotoxic effects in neocortical cells,
the study of the sequential expression of toxic effects : (cyto-) genetic endpoints versus cell death (apoptosis) versus neurophysiological changes,
the analysis of chronic low level and transplacental exposure to environmentally relevant pollutants on electrophysiological functions of mammalian neocortex at cellular and network level in adult and developing nervous system,
the analysis of the effects of MMC intoxication on the initiation, maintenance and propagation of epileptiform activity of the neocortex,
the role of different kinds of excitatory aminoacid receptors (NMDA and non-NMDA, AMPA receptors) on the initiation, maintenance and propagation of epileptiform activity of the neocortex in MMC intoxicated animals,
effect of MMC exposure on metabolism, convulsant activity and neurotoxicity of kynurenic acid.
The alkylmercury compounds, especially methylmercury (MMC), are the most dangerous and common sources of mercury toxicity, because of both their widespread use as fungicides and the fact that methylmercury is made by bacteria from elemental mercury. The principal sites of mercury deposition is the central nervous system, after exposure to alkyl mercury compounds which are highly accumulative. The general health condition of the population is influenced by mercury intoxication, which is indicated by an increased probability of epilepsy. However, the exact neuro-physiological bases of links between epilepsy and mercury intoxication are not analyzed yet.

To understand the clinical picture of a toxic effect, knowledge of the basic mechanisms on the cellular level is essential. The understanding of the mechanisms by which mercury ions exert their neurotoxic effects would not only increase our basic knowledge in nervous system function, but may allow better ways to treat and prevent human disease due to exposure to these chemicals. It is aimed to compare the cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of MMC in neocortical neurons of newborn rats of mothers, who were treated chronically by MMC before and during pregnancy together with changes of their multimodal electrophysiological parameters. This comparison will allow to assess whether the neurophysiological changes are primary events or consequences of early genetic events, moreover the balance between cell survival versus cell death will be analyzed in function of neurophysiological performance. Investigation of basic electrophysiological membrane-, and synaptic parameters at cellular level, as well as the analyses of the probability of occurrence, and the manifestation of different forms of epilepsy in experimental models, could give an important contribution to understand the possible changes in the function of the neocortical neuronal networks.

Campo scientifico (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifica i progetti con EuroSciVoc, una tassonomia multilingue dei campi scientifici, attraverso un processo semi-automatico basato su tecniche NLP. Cfr.: Il Vocabolario Scientifico Europeo.

È necessario effettuare l’accesso o registrarsi per utilizzare questa funzione

Programma(i)

Programmi di finanziamento pluriennali che definiscono le priorità dell’UE in materia di ricerca e innovazione.

Argomento(i)

Gli inviti a presentare proposte sono suddivisi per argomenti. Un argomento definisce un’area o un tema specifico per il quale i candidati possono presentare proposte. La descrizione di un argomento comprende il suo ambito specifico e l’impatto previsto del progetto finanziato.

Invito a presentare proposte

Procedura per invitare i candidati a presentare proposte di progetti, con l’obiettivo di ricevere finanziamenti dall’UE.

Dati non disponibili

Meccanismo di finanziamento

Meccanismo di finanziamento (o «Tipo di azione») all’interno di un programma con caratteristiche comuni. Specifica: l’ambito di ciò che viene finanziato; il tasso di rimborso; i criteri di valutazione specifici per qualificarsi per il finanziamento; l’uso di forme semplificate di costi come gli importi forfettari.

CSC - Cost-sharing contracts

Coordinatore

Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Contributo UE
Nessun dato
Indirizzo
2,Pleinlaan
1050 Bruxelles
Belgio

Mostra sulla mappa

Costo totale

I costi totali sostenuti dall’organizzazione per partecipare al progetto, compresi i costi diretti e indiretti. Questo importo è un sottoinsieme del bilancio complessivo del progetto.

Nessun dato

Partecipanti (4)

Il mio fascicolo 0 0