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“In due time, we should be able to come up with solid ideas about the biological basis of consciousness.”
 

Prof. Dr. A.B. (Arjen) Brussaard 
Head of the Department of Experimental Neurophysiology
 

“My research finds itself halfway the path from synapse to animal behavior. We build back from the genes to behavior. Formulated symbolically it is my task to have the synapse and animal behavior experts talk to each other”, states Arjen Brussaard. Central topic of his research is the prefrontal cortex (PFC).

Disturbances in the PFC may give rise to both attention problems and to depression. His group unravels the mechanisms underlying neuronal network activity in the PFC at different levels. Patch clamp recording and life cell imaging are used to study the behavior of individual synapses.
 

Publications:

Mice lacking the major adult GABAA receptor subtype have normal number of synapses, but retain juvenile IPSC kinetics until adulthood. Bosman LW, Heinen K, Spijker S, Brussaard AB. J Neurophysiol. 2005 Mar 9

de Kock CP, Burnashev N, Lodder JC, Mansvelder HD, Brussaard AB. NMDA receptors induce somatodendritic secretion in hypothalamic neurones of lactating female rats. J Physiol. 2004 Nov 15;561(Pt 1):53-64.

de Kock CP, Wierda KD, Bosman LW, Min R, Koksma JJ, Mansvelder HD, Verhage M, Brussaard AB. Somatodendritic secretion in oxytocin neurons is upregulated during the female reproductive cycle. J Neurosci. 2003 Apr 1;23(7):2726-34.

Bosman LW, Rosahl TW, Brussaard AB. Neonatal development of the rat visual cortex: synaptic function of GABAA receptor alpha subunits. J Physiol. 2002 Nov 15;545(Pt 1):169-81.

Brussaard AB, Wossink J, Lodder JC, Kits KS. Progesterone-metabolite prevents protein kinase C-dependent modulation of gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptors in oxytocin neurons. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000 Mar 28;97(7):3625-30.