Neuronal communication, allosteric receptors andbrain diseases

Lecturer

Jean-Pierre Changeux, Pasteur Institute and Collège of France
Jean-Pierre Changeux obtained his Ph. D. at Pasteur Institute in 1964. After postdoctoral studies at the UC Berkeley and Columbia University he became Professor at Pasteur Institute and Collège de France in 1975. He has received the Gairdner, Lounsbery and Wolf Prizes and the US National Academy of Sciences Award, and is a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, USA.

Description

The concept of allostery was introduced in the 1960s to describe how metabolic signals control the activity of bacterial enzymes. It then turned out to be valid for the many neurotransmitter receptors that control ion channels and, more recently, for G-protein-coupled receptors. Here the muscle and brain nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are the “pioneers”. Surprisingly, the revelation of the X-ray structure of recently discovered bacterial channel homologs suggests a general mechanism of signal transduction throughout live organism. The discovery of transmitter receptors has important consequences for understanding and treating diseases such as myasthenia gravis, Alzheimer, Parkinson and depression.