Center for Psychiatric Neurosciences (CPN)

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR CHIN B. EAP
Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) - Lausanne University (UNIL)
   

• Neural stem cells as biomarkers of cognitive aging and dementia
  Dr Sandrine Thuret
  Friday, June 25th 2021, 14:00 – 15:30. Visioconference (access link on presentation sheet).

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• CPN recent publications

Le statut socio-économique et la prise de poids sous psychotropes

^{Publié le 12.07.2021}

Le Centre de neurosciences psychiatriques montre que les patients avec un statut socio-économique faible débutant un traitement psychotrope ont un risque accru de développer des effets secondaires métaboliques (prise de poids, syndrome métabolique).

Le groupe de recherche du Prof. Chin B. Eap du Département de psychiatrie (CHUV-UNIL) a publié le 26 juin 2021 un article dans la revue scientifique internationale Translational Psychiatry. Cette étude a été effectuée chez des patients suivis en psychiatrie recevant des traitements pouvant induire des effets secondaires métaboliques, tels que prise de poids, diabète, hypertension ou taux de cholestérol très élevé. Elle montre, notamment, que les patients ayant un statut socio-économique faible ont un risque accru de développer ces effets secondaires au cours d’une année de traitement, par rapport aux patients avec un statut socio-économique élevé. Ainsi, ce travail montre que les inégalités socio-économiques sont partiellement responsables des différences de susceptibilité à l’apparition d’effets secondaires métaboliques. Une attention à ce facteur devrait être accordée lors de la prescription de psychotropes.

Funds for research

During the first semester of 2021, several research groups from the Center for Psychiatric Neurosciences obtained funds for a total amount of around CHF 2,500,000.
Here are the research projects that were accepted :

Swiss National Science Foundation

• Prof. C.-B. Eap : Metabolic syndrome in psychiatry : human microbiome transplantation in germ-free mice and brain imaging, telomers, metabolic and GWAS analysis in psychiatric patients : CHF 681’000. Co-investigators : Prof. P. Conus et Prof. K. von Plessen.
• Prof. R. Stoop : Interactions between endocannabinoid and oxytocin signaling in a Nlgn3 transgenic rat model for autism : CHF 326’500. Collaboration with Prof. Shona Chattarji, National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore, India.
• Prof. N. Toni : Adult hippocampal neurogenesis : From regulation mechanisms to its role in emotional individuality : CHF 812’000.

Synapsis Foundation    

• Prof. R. Stoop : Neuropeptidergic modulation of serotonin signaling as a basis for differential anxiety and fear responses to SSRI treatments in patients with mild cognitive impairments : CHF 298’000. Collaboration with Prof. A. von Gunten.
• Prof. N. Toni : Brain-derived extracellular vesicles as a diagnostic tool for tauopathies : CHF 300’000. Collaboration with Dr K. Richetin.

Novartis Foundation for Research

• Prof. N. Toni : Stimulation of astrocytes to restore adult hippocampal neurogenesis and spatial memory in aged mice : CHF 60’000.

Lactate reveals all about its antidepressant prowess

Adult neurogenesis in the brain of mice. Nascent cells in red, neurons in green. The cells in pink are new neurons to be integrated into a neural network © Carron / Toni

Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. The Laboratory on Neurobiology of Depression of the Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience (Jean-Luc Martin, Pierre Magistretti and Anthony Carrard) has demonstrated that lactate, a molecule produced by the body during exercise, has an antidepressant effect in mice. Lactate is best known for the pivotal role it plays in the nutrition of neurons inside the brain. Yet it can also counter the inhibition of the survival and proliferation of new neurons, a loss seen in patients suffering from depression and in stressed animal. Furthermore, the research team pinpointed NADH as a vital component in the mechanism: this is a molecule with antioxidant properties that is derived from the metabolism of lactate. The findings were published in the scientific journal Molecular Psychiatry.