Dr. Yoland Smith: Yerkes

	Rosa Villalba I have been working in Yoland's laboratory as a Research Associate since June 2003. I graduated in Biology in the Complutense University (Madrid, Spain, 1984) and earned my PhD in the Institute of Neurobiology, Santiago Ramon y Cajal (Madrid, Spain, 1991).My interest for Neuroscience started at the end of my Bachelor Degree in Biology when I was learning the use of retrograde and anterograde neuronal tracers in the amphibian brain in the Department of Cell Biology of the Complutense University. To pursue my formation in Neuroscience, especially in Neuroanatomy, I was awarded with a Pre-doctoral Fellowship to perform my PhD in the Institute Santiago Ramon y Cajal.During my graduate studies, I examined the distribution and ultrastructural characteristics of neurons containing various neuropeptides (NPY, C-PON, VIP, Galanin and Somatostatin) and/or enzymes that participate in the synthesis of different neurotransmitters (ChAT, TOH) in the CNS using immunocytochemical approaches. Also, I combined this methodology with histoenzimological techniques to study cholinergic pathways and the localization of NADPH-d neurons in the CNS of mammals. During this predoctoral period I was also awarded with a Short Term Fellowship to work with Dr. J. Polak in the Department of Histochemistry of The Royal Postgraduate Medical School (London, UK-1988). In this Department I studied the distribution of SP-, NPY-, C-PON- and 5-HT immunoreactivity in the human and rat raphe nuclei. After completing my PhD, I moved to the Department of Cell Biology and Genetic of Alcala de Henares University (Madrid, Spain), as an Assistant Professor for four years. The main goal of the research I have been doing there was to investigate the glial responses to different injuries: hyperamonemmia, portacaval-shunt and optic-nerve sectioning in the brain of mammals and also in some teleost fishes. To expand this neuroglia research I was granted with a Short Term Post-Doctoral Fellowship to investigate in the laboratory of Dr. Cornell-Bell in the Department of Cell Biology in the School of Medicine of Yale University (1993). In this laboratory I learned glial primary culture techniques and worked in a project that involved time lapse confocal scanning laser microscopy to study calcium signaling mechanisms in cultured astrocytes responding to different neurotransmitters. Also during this time and in collaboration with the Neurosurgery Department, I did some immunocytochemical studies (GFAP and NF) in tissue sections from the amygdale, hippocampus and cortex of epileptic patients. Following these years of academic research, I was hired as a Research Scientific for Viatech/Cognetix, Inc. Pharmaceutical Screening Technologies (Conneticut, USA) in 1995. This company was created to develop novel fluorescence screening methods for drug discovery that used primary cell culture. In this company I helped to develop high through-put screening assays that used fluid handling robots to produce uniform cultures of neurons from different regions of the central nervous system. These primary cultures were assayed for targets that pharmaceutical companies were using to elucidate the mode of action of drugs in preclinical experiments. Also as part of this company I performed some research as a Consultant for the Department of Neurobiology of Yale University, and I was an Investigator on a Phase I Small Business grant (SBIR) from the NIH that developed methods to screen herbicides and pesticides for damage to the human CNS. From March 1999 to March 2003, I worked as a Post-doctoral Fellow in the Department of Anatomy at Wright State University (Dayton, OH) where I studied the cellular distribution and ultrastructural localization of Glutamate and GABA receptors and different vesicular neurotransmitter transporters in the Spinal Cord. Regarding my teaching experience, I worked as Profesor Ayudante (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Biochemistry of the Complutense University (Academic Year 89/90- Biochemistry and Physiology). In the Academic Year 90/91 and until 1995, I had a position as Profesor Ayudante (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Cell Biology and Genetic of the University of Alcala de Henares (Madrid, Spain) were I was teaching Cell Biology, Histology and Comparative Anatomy of the CNS. Since March 1998 to February 1999, I worked as a Lecturer and Laboratory Instructor in the European University of Madrid were I was teaching Cell Biology and Biochemistry. Research Projects GABA Receptors in the Monkey Thalamic Nuclei The ultimate goal of my projects in Yoland's lab is to establish if the synaptic plasticity GABA receptors localization in the thalamus may play a role in Parkinson's disease pathophysiology. If this is the case, one may consider the possibility of GABA receptor drugs alone or in combination with low doses of L-DOPA as a therapeutic strategy for Parkinson's disease.The hypothesis is that in Parkinson's disease the lack of striatal dopamine leads to increased GABAergic basal ganglia outflow to the thalamus. If so, postsynaptic GABA receptors could respond to this increased release of neurotransmitter by either downregulation or changes in pharmacological properties.In order to establish possible changes in the distribution and/or subsynaptic localization of these receptors, the first aim of this project has been to characterize the general distribution of GABA receptors (GABA-A and GABA-B) in the thalamic nuclei receiving basal ganglia inputs. To do so, I have been using pre-and post-embedding immunocytochemichal techniques for electron microscopy. (Some of these results were presented in the IBAGS VIII triennial meeting in Crieff, Scotland, September 2004). Another important objective of this project is to know the sources of GABAergic presynaptic boutons in the different thalamic nuclei studied. In this case, we will combine anterograde labeling with pre- and post-embedding immunogold localization of GABA A and GABA B receptors.Finally, to characterize possible changes in the distribution of GABA receptors we will compare the pattern of GABA A and GABA B receptors immunoreactivity between normal and MPTP monkeys. A vGluT2-IR terminal forming multiple “en passant” type axo-spinous asymmetric synapses in the postcommissural putamen of a MPTP-treated parkinsonian monkey. A1, A5, A9: Samples of serial electron micrographs used to generate the three dimensional (3D) reconstructed vGluT2-positive terminal (T) in contact with 3 different spines (Sp1, Sp2, Sp3) in A’ and A”. Notice that the 3D-reconstructed spines (A’ and A”) are partially transparent and the image in A” rotated to better illustrate the extent of the post-synaptic densities. Abbreviations: D: Dendrite; Sp: Spine; PSD: Post-synaptic density. Scale Bar in A1 applies to A5 and A9:1 µm. Recent Research Projects 1.- The thalamostriatal System in Primate (PI: Y. Smith) The goal of this project is to elucidate various aspects of the synaptology and plasticity of the thalamostriatal system in normal and MPTP-treated parkinsonian monkeys. Specific Research in the Grant: - Comparative correlation and comparative analysis of DA depletion and striatal spine loss using TH-immunostaining and Golgi impregnation in control and MPTP-treated monkeys. - Quantitative electron microscopic analysis of the density of striatal D1R-immunoreactive and non-immunoreactive spines in control and MPTP-treated animals. 2.- Plasticity of striatal glutamatergic synapses in Parkinson's disease (PI: Y. Smith) The goal of this proposal is to examine morphological plasticvity changes in striatal spines receiving cortical or thalamic glutamatergic inputs in thye nonhuman primate model of Parkinson’s disease. Specific Research in the Grant: 3D reconstruction and comparative analysis of individual striatal spines receiving glutamatergic terminals in control and MPTP-treated monkeys using specific vGluT1 and vGluT2 immunostaining and electron microscopic serial sections. 3.- Thalamostriatal system in parkinsonism (PI: T. Wichmann) The goal of this project is to elucidate the role of the thalamostriatal system in regulating activity of cholinergic interneurons and projection neurons in normal and parkinsonian monkeys. Specific Research in the Grant: Unbiased stereological quantification of the total neuronal number in the intralaminar thalamic nuclei (CM and PF) of control and MPTP-treated animals using Nissl and histochemical staining of consecutive serial sections. PUBLICATIONS Villalba R.M. and Smith Y. (2010). Differential structural of corticostriatal and thalamostriatal axo-spinous synapses in MPTP-treated parkinsonian monkeys. J. Comp. Neurol. In Press-Nov. 2010 Villalba R.M. and Smith Y. (2010). Striatal spine plasticity in Parkinson’s disease. Frontiers in Neuroscience. In Press-Oct.2010 Masilamoni G., Votaw J., Leonard Howell L., Villalba R.M., Goodman M., Voll R.J., Stehouwer J.,Wichmann T., Smith Y. (2010). 8F-FECNT: Validation as PET Dopamine Transporter Ligand in Parkinsonism. Experimental Neurology 226:265-273 Smith Y., Villalba R.M. and Raju D.V. (2009). Striatal Spine Plasticity in Parkinson’s Disease: Pathological or not?. Parkinsonism and related Disorders 15 (3): S156-161. Villalba R.M., Lee H., Raju D. and Smith Y. (2009). Striatal Dopaminergic Denervation and Spine Loss in MPTP-treated monkeys. Proceedings of IBAGS IX. Advances in Behavioral Biology 58: 361-375. Smith, Y. and R Villalba (2008) Striatal and extrastriatal dopamine in the basal ganglia: An overview of it's anatomical organization in normal and parkinsonian brains, Mov Disorders 23, Suppl 3: S524-547, PMID: 18781680. Villalba R, D.V. Raju and Y. Smith (2006) GABAB receptors in the centrome/parafascicular thalamic nuclear complex: An ultrastructural analysis of GABA BR1 and GABABR2 in the monkey thalamus. J. Comp. Neurol. 496:269-287. Galvan A., R. Villalba, S. West, N. Maidment, L. Ackerson, Y. Smith and T. Wichmann (2005) GABAergic modulation of the activity of globus pallidus neurons in primates: An in vivo analysis of GABA-A, GABA-B and GABA transporters function. J. Neurophysiol. 94: 990-1000. Alvarez FJ, Villalba RM, Zerda R and Schneider SP, Journal of Comparative Neurology, 472: 467-480 (2004)Vesicular Glutamate Transporters in the Spinal Cord, with Special Reference to Sensory Primary Afferent Synapses. Alvarez FJ, Villalba RM, Carr PA, Grandes P, Somohano PM, Journal of Comparative Neurology, 422: 464-487 (2000)Differential distribution of metabotropic glutamate receptors 1a, 1b and 5 in the rat spinal cord. Villalba RM, Martinez-Murillo R, Polak JM, Rodrigo J, Cell and Tissue Research, 277: 177-181 (1994) C-PON immunoreactive neurons in the neostriatum of the hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus): a correlated light- and electron-microscopic study. Villalba RM, Rodrigo J, Martinez-Murillo R, Presence of C-flanking peptide of neuropeptide Y (C-PON) immunoreactive neurons in the olfactory cortex of the hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), Neuroscience Letters 158: 109-112 (1993)) Bodega G, Suarez I, Rubio M, Villalba RM, Fernandez B,High ammonia diets effect on the glial fibrilllary acidic protein (GFAP)Anatomy and Embriology 187:385-398 (1992) Bodega G, Suarez I, Rubio M, Villalba RM, Fernandez B, Hyperammonemia induces transient GFAP immunoreactivity changes in goldfish spinal cord (Carassius auratus L.) Neuroscience Research 13:217-225 (1992) Suarez I, Bodega G, Arilla E, Rubio M, Villalba R, Fernandez B, Different responses of astrocytes and Bergmann glial cells to portacaval shunt: a immunohistochemical study in the rat cerebellum. Glia 6:172-179 (1992) Martinez-Murillo R, Villalba RM, Rodrigo J, Immunochemical localization of cholinergic terminals in the region of the nucleus basalis magno cellularis of the rat: a correlated light and electron microscopic study. Neuroscience 36:361-376 (1990) ABSTRACTS 1.- Villalba RM, Pare JF and Smith Y (2010). Ultrastructural plasticity of glutamatergic corticostriatal and Thalamostriatal axo-spinous synapses in parkinsonian monkeys. IBAGS X-International Basal Ganglia Society, 2010 2.- Smith Y., Villalba R., Raju D. and J.-F. Pare (2009). Synaptic plasticity of corticostriatal and thalamostriatal systems in Parkinson’s disease. XVIII WFN World Congress on Parkinson’s Disease and Related Disorders. 3.- Villalba R.M. and Smith Y. (2009). A Comparative 3D Ultrastructural Analysis of Corticostriatal and Thalamostriatal Axo-spinous Synapses in Control and MPTP-treated Parkinsonian Monkeys. Society for Neuroscience, 2009 4.-Villalba R. and Smith Y. (2008). Plasticity of vGluT1-containing axo-spinous synapses in the striatum of MPTP-treated parkinsonian monkeys: A 3D ultrastructural analysis. Society for Neuroscience, 2008 5.- Smith Y., Villalba R. Lee H. and Raju D. (2008). Striatal Spine Loss in Parkinsonism: An early Dopamine-dependent Pathology in the MPTP-treated Nonhuman Primate Model of parkinson’s disease. Movement Disorders, 2008 6.- Lee H., Melrose H., Villalba R., Farrer M. and Smith Y. (2007).Ultrastructural Localization of Lrrk2 Immunoreactivity in the Rat and Monkey Basal Ganglia. Society for Neuroscience, 2007 7.- Villalba R.M., Lee H., Raju D. and Smith Y. (2007). Dopaminergic denervation and spine loss in the striatum of MPTP-treated monkeys. IBAGS IX-International Basal Ganglia Society 9th Triennial Meeting, 2007 8.- Villalba R.M., Verreault M. and Smith Y. (2006). Spine loss in the striatum of MPTP-treated monkeys. A correlation with the degree of striatal dopaminergic denervation. Society for Neuroscience, 2006 9.- Villalba R.M. and Smith Y. (2005). Subsynaptic localization of GABA B receptors at glutamatergic synapses in the monkey thalamus. Society for Neuroscience, 2005

Rosa Villalba

I have been working in Yoland's laboratory as a Research Associate since June 2003. I graduated in Biology in the Complutense University (Madrid, Spain, 1984) and earned my PhD in the Institute of Neurobiology, Santiago Ramon y Cajal (Madrid, Spain, 1991).My interest for Neuroscience started at the end of my Bachelor Degree in Biology when I was learning the use of retrograde and anterograde neuronal tracers in the amphibian brain in the Department of Cell Biology of the Complutense University. To pursue my formation in Neuroscience, especially in Neuroanatomy, I was awarded with a Pre-doctoral Fellowship to perform my PhD in the Institute Santiago Ramon y Cajal.During my graduate studies, I examined the distribution and ultrastructural characteristics of neurons containing various neuropeptides (NPY, C-PON, VIP, Galanin and Somatostatin) and/or enzymes that participate in the synthesis of different neurotransmitters (ChAT, TOH) in the CNS using immunocytochemical approaches. Also, I combined this methodology with histoenzimological techniques to study cholinergic pathways and the localization of NADPH-d neurons in the CNS of mammals. During this predoctoral period I was also awarded with a Short Term Fellowship to work with Dr. J. Polak in the Department of Histochemistry of The Royal Postgraduate Medical School (London, UK-1988). In this Department I studied the distribution of SP-, NPY-, C-PON- and 5-HT immunoreactivity in the human and rat raphe nuclei.

After completing my PhD, I moved to the Department of Cell Biology and Genetic of Alcala de Henares University (Madrid, Spain), as an Assistant Professor for four years. The main goal of the research I have been doing there was to investigate the glial responses to different injuries: hyperamonemmia, portacaval-shunt and optic-nerve sectioning in the brain of mammals and also in some teleost fishes. To expand this neuroglia research I was granted with a Short Term Post-Doctoral Fellowship to investigate in the laboratory of Dr. Cornell-Bell in the Department of Cell Biology in the School of Medicine of Yale University (1993). In this laboratory I learned glial primary culture techniques and worked in a project that involved time lapse confocal scanning laser microscopy to study calcium signaling mechanisms in cultured astrocytes responding to different neurotransmitters. Also during this time and in collaboration with the Neurosurgery Department, I did some immunocytochemical studies (GFAP and NF) in tissue sections from the amygdale, hippocampus and cortex of epileptic patients.

Following these years of academic research, I was hired as a Research Scientific for Viatech/Cognetix, Inc. Pharmaceutical Screening Technologies (Conneticut, USA) in 1995. This company was created to develop novel fluorescence screening methods for drug discovery that used primary cell culture. In this company I helped to develop high through-put screening assays that used fluid handling robots to produce uniform cultures of neurons from different regions of the central nervous system. These primary cultures were assayed for targets that pharmaceutical companies were using to elucidate the mode of action of drugs in preclinical experiments. Also as part of this company I performed some research as a Consultant for the Department of Neurobiology of Yale University, and I was an Investigator on a Phase I Small Business grant (SBIR) from the NIH that developed methods to screen herbicides and pesticides for damage to the human CNS.

From March 1999 to March 2003, I worked as a Post-doctoral Fellow in the Department of Anatomy at Wright State University (Dayton, OH) where I studied the cellular distribution and ultrastructural localization of Glutamate and GABA receptors and different vesicular neurotransmitter transporters in the Spinal Cord.

Regarding my teaching experience, I worked as Profesor Ayudante (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Biochemistry of the Complutense University (Academic Year 89/90- Biochemistry and Physiology). In the Academic Year 90/91 and until 1995, I had a position as Profesor Ayudante (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Cell Biology and Genetic of the University of Alcala de Henares (Madrid, Spain) were I was teaching Cell Biology, Histology and Comparative Anatomy of the CNS. Since March 1998 to February 1999, I worked as a Lecturer and Laboratory Instructor in the European University of Madrid were I was teaching Cell Biology and Biochemistry.

GABA Receptors in the Monkey Thalamic Nuclei

The ultimate goal of my projects in Yoland's lab is to establish if the synaptic plasticity GABA receptors localization in the thalamus may play a role in Parkinson's disease pathophysiology. If this is the case, one may consider the possibility of GABA receptor drugs alone or in combination with low doses of L-DOPA as a therapeutic strategy for Parkinson's disease.The hypothesis is that in Parkinson's disease the lack of striatal dopamine leads to increased GABAergic basal ganglia outflow to the thalamus. If so, postsynaptic GABA receptors could respond to this increased release of neurotransmitter by either downregulation or changes in pharmacological properties.In order to establish possible changes in the distribution and/or subsynaptic localization of these receptors, the first aim of this project has been to characterize the general distribution of GABA receptors (GABA-A and GABA-B) in the thalamic nuclei receiving basal ganglia inputs. To do so, I have been using pre-and post-embedding immunocytochemichal techniques for electron microscopy. (Some of these results were presented in the IBAGS VIII triennial meeting in Crieff, Scotland, September 2004).

Another important objective of this project is to know the sources of GABAergic presynaptic boutons in the different thalamic nuclei studied. In this case, we will combine anterograde labeling with pre- and post-embedding immunogold localization of GABA A and GABA B receptors.Finally, to characterize possible changes in the distribution of GABA receptors we will compare the pattern of GABA A and GABA B receptors immunoreactivity between normal and MPTP monkeys.

A vGluT2-IR terminal forming multiple “en passant” type axo-spinous asymmetric synapses in the postcommissural putamen of a MPTP-treated parkinsonian monkey. A1, A5, A9: Samples of serial electron micrographs used to generate the three dimensional (3D) reconstructed vGluT2-positive terminal (T) in contact with 3 different spines (Sp1, Sp2, Sp3) in A’ and A”. Notice that the 3D-reconstructed spines (A’ and A”) are partially transparent and the image in A” rotated to better illustrate the extent of the post-synaptic densities. Abbreviations: D: Dendrite; Sp: Spine; PSD: Post-synaptic density. Scale Bar in A1 applies to A5 and A9:1 µm.

Recent Research Projects

1.- The thalamostriatal System in Primate (PI: Y. Smith) The goal of this project is to elucidate various aspects of the synaptology and plasticity of the thalamostriatal system in normal and MPTP-treated parkinsonian monkeys.

Specific Research in the Grant:

- Comparative correlation and comparative analysis of DA depletion and striatal spine loss using TH-immunostaining and Golgi impregnation in control and MPTP-treated monkeys.
- Quantitative electron microscopic analysis of the density of striatal D1R-immunoreactive and non-immunoreactive spines in control and MPTP-treated animals.

2.- Plasticity of striatal glutamatergic synapses in Parkinson's disease (PI: Y. Smith) The goal of this proposal is to examine morphological plasticvity changes in striatal spines receiving cortical or thalamic glutamatergic inputs in thye nonhuman primate model of Parkinson’s disease.

Specific Research in the Grant: 3D reconstruction and comparative analysis of individual striatal spines receiving glutamatergic terminals in control and MPTP-treated monkeys using specific vGluT1 and vGluT2 immunostaining and electron microscopic serial sections.

3.- Thalamostriatal system in parkinsonism (PI: T. Wichmann) The goal of this project is to elucidate the role of the thalamostriatal system in regulating activity of cholinergic interneurons and projection neurons in normal and parkinsonian monkeys.

Specific Research in the Grant: Unbiased stereological quantification of the total neuronal number in the intralaminar thalamic nuclei (CM and PF) of control and MPTP-treated animals using Nissl and histochemical staining of consecutive serial sections.

Villalba R.M. and Smith Y. (2010). Differential structural of corticostriatal and thalamostriatal axo-spinous synapses in MPTP-treated parkinsonian monkeys. J. Comp. Neurol. In Press-Nov. 2010

Villalba R.M. and Smith Y. (2010). Striatal spine plasticity in Parkinson’s disease. Frontiers in Neuroscience. In Press-Oct.2010

Masilamoni G., Votaw J., Leonard Howell L., Villalba R.M., Goodman M., Voll R.J., Stehouwer J.,Wichmann T., Smith Y. (2010). 8F-FECNT: Validation as PET Dopamine Transporter Ligand in Parkinsonism. Experimental Neurology 226:265-273

Smith Y., Villalba R.M. and Raju D.V. (2009). Striatal Spine Plasticity in Parkinson’s Disease: Pathological or not?. Parkinsonism and related Disorders 15 (3): S156-161.

Villalba R.M., Lee H., Raju D. and Smith Y. (2009). Striatal Dopaminergic Denervation and Spine Loss in MPTP-treated monkeys. Proceedings of IBAGS IX. Advances in Behavioral Biology 58: 361-375.

Smith, Y. and R Villalba (2008) Striatal and extrastriatal dopamine in the basal ganglia: An overview of it's anatomical organization in normal and parkinsonian brains, Mov Disorders 23, Suppl 3: S524-547, PMID: 18781680.

Villalba R, D.V. Raju and Y. Smith (2006) GABAB receptors in the centrome/parafascicular thalamic nuclear complex: An ultrastructural analysis of GABA BR1 and GABABR2 in the monkey thalamus. J. Comp. Neurol. 496:269-287.

Galvan A., R. Villalba, S. West, N. Maidment, L. Ackerson, Y. Smith and T. Wichmann (2005) GABAergic modulation of the activity of globus pallidus neurons in primates: An in vivo analysis of GABA-A, GABA-B and GABA transporters function. J. Neurophysiol. 94: 990-1000.

Alvarez FJ, Villalba RM, Zerda R and Schneider SP, Journal of Comparative Neurology, 472: 467-480 (2004)Vesicular Glutamate Transporters in the Spinal Cord, with Special Reference to Sensory Primary Afferent Synapses.

Alvarez FJ, Villalba RM, Carr PA, Grandes P, Somohano PM, Journal of Comparative Neurology, 422: 464-487 (2000)Differential distribution of metabotropic glutamate receptors 1a, 1b and 5 in the rat spinal cord.

Villalba RM, Martinez-Murillo R, Polak JM, Rodrigo J, Cell and Tissue Research, 277: 177-181 (1994) C-PON immunoreactive neurons in the neostriatum of the hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus): a correlated light- and electron-microscopic study.

Villalba RM, Rodrigo J, Martinez-Murillo R, Presence of C-flanking peptide of neuropeptide Y (C-PON) immunoreactive neurons in the olfactory cortex of the hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), Neuroscience Letters 158: 109-112 (1993))

Bodega G, Suarez I, Rubio M, Villalba RM, Fernandez B,High ammonia diets effect on the glial fibrilllary acidic protein (GFAP)Anatomy and Embriology 187:385-398 (1992)

Bodega G, Suarez I, Rubio M, Villalba RM, Fernandez B, Hyperammonemia induces transient GFAP immunoreactivity changes in goldfish spinal cord (Carassius auratus L.) Neuroscience Research 13:217-225 (1992)

Suarez I, Bodega G, Arilla E, Rubio M, Villalba R, Fernandez B, Different responses of astrocytes and Bergmann glial cells to portacaval shunt: a immunohistochemical study in the rat cerebellum. Glia 6:172-179 (1992)

Martinez-Murillo R, Villalba RM, Rodrigo J, Immunochemical localization of cholinergic terminals in the region of the nucleus basalis magno cellularis of the rat: a correlated light and electron microscopic study. Neuroscience 36:361-376 (1990)

1.- Villalba RM, Pare JF and Smith Y (2010). Ultrastructural plasticity of glutamatergic corticostriatal and Thalamostriatal axo-spinous synapses in parkinsonian monkeys. IBAGS X-International Basal Ganglia Society, 2010

2.- Smith Y., Villalba R., Raju D. and J.-F. Pare (2009). Synaptic plasticity of corticostriatal and thalamostriatal systems in Parkinson’s disease. XVIII WFN World Congress on Parkinson’s Disease and Related Disorders.

3.- Villalba R.M. and Smith Y. (2009). A Comparative 3D Ultrastructural Analysis of Corticostriatal and Thalamostriatal Axo-spinous Synapses in Control and MPTP-treated Parkinsonian Monkeys. Society for Neuroscience, 2009

4.-Villalba R. and Smith Y. (2008). Plasticity of vGluT1-containing axo-spinous synapses in the striatum of MPTP-treated parkinsonian monkeys: A 3D ultrastructural analysis. Society for Neuroscience, 2008

5.- Smith Y., Villalba R. Lee H. and Raju D. (2008). Striatal Spine Loss in Parkinsonism: An early Dopamine-dependent Pathology in the MPTP-treated Nonhuman Primate Model of parkinson’s disease. Movement Disorders, 2008

6.- Lee H., Melrose H., Villalba R., Farrer M. and Smith Y. (2007).Ultrastructural Localization of Lrrk2 Immunoreactivity in the Rat and Monkey Basal Ganglia. Society for Neuroscience, 2007

7.- Villalba R.M., Lee H., Raju D. and Smith Y. (2007). Dopaminergic denervation and spine loss in the striatum of MPTP-treated monkeys. IBAGS IX-International Basal Ganglia Society 9th Triennial Meeting, 2007

8.- Villalba R.M., Verreault M. and Smith Y. (2006). Spine loss in the striatum of MPTP-treated monkeys. A correlation with the degree of striatal dopaminergic denervation. Society for Neuroscience, 2006

9.- Villalba R.M. and Smith Y. (2005). Subsynaptic localization of GABA B receptors at glutamatergic synapses in the monkey thalamus. Society for Neuroscience, 2005