 |
 |
 |
 |
|
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 NucleiThe 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 will be 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.
PUBLICATIONSSmith, Y. and R. Villalba (2007) Striatal and extrastriatal dopamine in the basal ganglia: An overview of its anatomical organization in normal and parkinsonian brains. Mov. Disorders (in press). 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. Vesicular Glutamate Transporters in the Spinal Cord, with Special Reference to Sensory Primary Afferent Synapses. Alvarez FJ, Villalba RM, Zerda R and Schneider SP, Journal of Comparative Neurology, 472: 467-480 (2004) Differential distribution of metabotropic glutamate receptors 1a, 1b and 5 in the rat spinal cord. Alvarez FJ, Villalba RM, Carr PA, Grandes P, Somohano PM, Journal of Comparative Neurology, 422: 464-487 (2000) C-PON immunoreactive neurons in the neostriatum of the hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus): a correlated light- and electron-microscopic study, Villalba RM, Martinez-Murillo R, Polak JM, Rodrigo J, Cell and Tissue Research, 277: 177-181 (1994) Presence of C-flanking peptide of neuropeptide Y (C-PON) immunoreactive neurons in the olfactory cortex of the hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), Villalba RM, Rodrigo J, Martinez-Murillo R, Neuroscience Letters 158: 109-112 (1993) High ammonia diets effect on the glial fibrilllary acidic protein (GFAP), Bodega G, Suarez I, Rubio M, Villalba RM, Fernandez B, Anatomy and Embriology 187:385-398 (1992) Hyperammonemia induces transient GFAP immunoreactivity changes in goldfish spinal cord (Carassius auratus L.) Bodega G, Suarez I, Rubio M, Villalba RM, Fernandez B, Neuroscience Research 13:217-225 (1992) Different responses of astrocytes and Bergmann glial cells to portacaval shunt: a immunohistochemical study in the rat cerebellum, Suarez I, Bodega G, Arilla E, Rubio M, Villalba R, Fernandez B, Glia 6:172-179 (1992) Immunochemical localization of cholinergic terminals in the region of the nucleus basalis magno cellularis of the rat: a correlated light and electron microscopic study, Martinez-Murillo R, Villalba RM, Rodrigo J, Neuroscience 36:361-376 (1990) Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-immunoreactive neurons in the main olfactory bulb of the hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), Lopez-Mascaraque L, Villalba R, de Carlos JA, Neuroscience Letters 98:19-24 (1989) Light and electron microscopic study of galanin-immunoreactive nerve fibers in the rat posterior thalamus, Blasco I, Alvarez FJ, Villalba RM, Solano ML, Martinez-Murillo R, Rodrigo J, Journal of Comparative Neurology 283:1-12 (1989) Localization of C-PON immunoreactivity in the rat main olfactory bulb. Demonstration that the population containing endogenous C-PON display NADPH-diaphorase activity, Villalba RM, Rodrigo J, Alvarez FJ, Achaval M, Martinez-Murillo R, Neuroscience 33:373-382 (1989) C-PON containing neurons in the rat striatum are also positive for NADPH-diaphorase activity. A light microscopic study, Villalba RM, Martinez_murillo R, Blasco I, Alvarez FJ, Rodrigo J, Brain Research 462: 359-362 (1988) Cholinergic somata and terminals in the rat substantia nigra: an immunocytochemical study with optical and electron microscopic techniques, Martinez-Murillo R, Blasco I, Alvarez FJ, Rodrigo J, Brain Research 462:359-362 (1988) Distribution of enkephalin-immunoreactive nerve fibres and terminals in the region of the nucleus basalis magnocellularisof the rat: a light and electron microscopic study, Martinez-Murillo R, Blasco I, Alvarez FJ, Villalba R, Solano M, Montero-Caballero MI, Rodrigo J, Journal of Neurocytology 17: 361-376 (1988) Presence of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and substance P (SP) immunoreactivity in the intraepidermal free nerve endings of cat skin, Alvarez FJ, Cervantes C, Blasco I, Villalba R, Martinez-Murillo R, Polak JM, Rodrigo J, Brain Research 442:391-395 (1988) Immunocytochemical analysis of calcitonin gene-related peptide and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide in Merkel cells and cutaneus free nerve endings of cats, Alvarez FJ, Cervantes C, Blasco I, Villalba R, Martinez-Murillo, Polak JM and Rodrigo J, Cell and Tissue Research 254: 429-437 (1988)
|
|---|
AWARDS- Pre-doctoral Fellowship. Caja de Madrid |
 |
|---|
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.
Research Projects
ABSTRACTS