Speaker: Dr. Yves De Koninck, Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Laval University

Date: Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Time: 11:30am - 12:30pm  

Location: Room 3H-1, Tupper Building

Description: I will present work we have pursued to identify key mechanisms explaining aberrant pain processing by the nervous system as well as co-morbidities that develop from sustained pain hypersensitivity. This includes the discovery of impaired inhibition resulting from chloride dysregulation in neuropathic pain conditions, leading to crosstalk between sensory channels and ectopic activity possibly underlying spontaneous pain. I will illustrate how such discovery opens new perspectives to understand abnormal pain and how it affects our thinking for therapeutic design. Disrupted chloride homeostasis is now emerging as a common pathway to several brain disorders, including transition to addiction, and maladaptive responses to opioid treatment. I will conclude on recent evidence that chloride dysregulation can also be a key target for prevention, and perhaps reversal of neurodegenerative disorders, in particular ALS and Alzheimer’s disease.