Intrinsic and synaptic mechanisms mediating the neuronal effects of toluene

加拿大儿童和青少年广泛滥用甲苯等溶剂，以达到欣快状态;甲苯也是一种有毒化合物，存在于与木材、印刷或油漆行业有关的加拿大特定工作场所。 行为变化和最终的长期成瘾，自我管理的这些化学物质可能与急性和慢性的大脑功能的修改。 甲苯改变大脑功能的确切机制尚不完全清楚，尽管有一种假设是这些化学物质急性和慢性地改变了大脑特定区域中特定类型的脑细胞用于传输和存储信息的电（离子通道和动作电位）和化学（神经递质和突触）信号。McKay博士的研究计划致力于解决这一假设。 McKay博士对确定离子通道和神经递质受体感兴趣，这些离子通道和神经递质受体介导了滥用溶剂甲苯对大脑神经元的影响，这些神经元对特定类型的学习至关重要。 鉴于甲苯经常被非常年幼的儿童滥用，McKay博士进一步感兴趣的是评估与成熟大脑相比，年轻大脑对甲苯长期影响的潜在差异脆弱性。 该研究计划将为高素质的人员提供使用最先进的电生理学和成像工具的机会，以整合从单个离子通道到神经元到神经元网络并最终到行为的多个层次的话语，从而为他们提供知识和技能的特异性和广度，为他们在加拿大和其他地方的学术界，工业界和政府的职业生涯做好准备。 这项研究将追求新的假设驱动的研究和回答的问题，将感兴趣的许多科学家谁研究滥用药物/化学品如何改变大脑功能，并可能有一天是有帮助的许多加拿大人谁很早就在他们的生活开始滥用甲苯等化学品或暴露于甲苯在他们的工作场所。

Solvents like toluene are widely abused by Canadian children and adolescents to achieve a euphoric state; toluene is also a toxic compound present in specific Canadian workplaces associated with the lumber, printing or painting industries. The behavioural changes and ultimately the long-term addiction that follows self-administration of these chemicals are likely related to acute and chronic modifications of brain function. The exact mechanisms by which toluene modifies brain function are incompletely understood, although one hypothesis is that these chemicals acutely and chronically modify the electrical (ion channels and action potentials) and chemical (neurotransmitters and synapses) signals that specific types of brain cells in specific regions of the brain use to transmit and store information. The research program of Dr. McKay is dedicated to addressing this hypothesis. Dr. McKay is interested in identifying the ion channels and neurotransmitter receptors that mediate the effects of the abused solvent toluene in neurons of the brain essential for specific types of learning. Given that toluene is often abused by very young children, Dr. McKay is further interested in assessing the potential differential vulnerability of young brains compared to mature brains to the long-term effects of toluene. The research program will provide highly qualified personnel the opportunity to use state-of-the-art electrophysiology and imaging tools to integrate across multiple levels of discourse from single ion channels to neurons to networks of neurons and ultimately to behaviour, thereby providing them with the specificity and breadth of knowledge and skills to prepare them for careers in academia, industry and government in Canada and elsewhere. The research will pursue novel hypothesis-driven studies and answer questions that will interest many scientists who study how abused drugs / chemicals change brain function, and may one day be helpful for the numerous Canadians who very early in their lives begin to abuse chemicals like toluene or are exposed to toluene in their workplaces.