The Researcher – Dr. Richard Bergeron
Dr. Richard Bergeron. is a Senior Scientist, Neuroscience, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute; Assistant Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry and Dept. of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa. Dr. Bergeron is a physician, psychiatrist and neuroscientist. His scientific interest is to study the function of the NMDA receptor in the central nervous system. The clinical impacts of Dr. Bergeron's research are potentially schizophrenia, dementia and stroke and affective disorders. Dr. Bergeron's work is supported by the Canadian Institute of Health Research, The Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression.
Dr. Bergeron’s Research Approach
Dr. Bergeron and his staff, using a well-defined experimental protocol based on the firing pattern of neurons recorded from a patient who is forming a short term memory, they aim to record the electrical activity from multiple neurons in a network at the same time. This will enable them to determine how the memory is set up, used, and discarded. They will then attempt to disrupt memory formation in a way similar to that believed to occur in AD to see how the network is affected. Dr. Bergeron will even go as far as to kill a neuron in the network to see if memories can be re-routed via other neurons in the network or changed entirely following cell death.
Evidence suggests that glutamate might play a key role in the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. Glutamate activates many subtypes of receptors, one of them called the NMDA receptor. The NMDA receptor can be blocked by many drugs including phencyclidine (PCP; also known as 'angel dust'). PCP can induce psychosis in healthy volunteers. The PCP psychosis is very difficult to distinguish from an acute schizophrenic episode. If the NMDA receptor hypofunction hypothesis is correct, it suggests that new treatments for schizophrenia patients should enhance the function of the NMDA receptor.
Dr. Bergeron and his team will use the patch-clamp technique in brain slices and confocal microscopy to study the effects of neuroleptic drugs and neuropeptides used or involved in Mental disorders. The effects of these agents are assessed on the circuitry of two brain areas; the hippocampus and the amygdala. Three electrophysiology data acquisition systems are available in Dr. Bergeron's laboratory. The first is used to record from projection cells from the hippocampus; the second is used to record from projection cells from the amygdala; the third is dedicated to study the interneuronal network of the hippocampus. Dr. Bergeron will interact directly with both the clinical and basic research components of the Neuroscience Program at the Ottawa Health Research Institute.
Dr. Bergeron's objective is to establish a neuroscience laboratory dedicated to neuro-psychiatric disorders. His training as a psychiatrist and as a neuroscientist allows him to study mental diseases with cellular, molecular and neuro-imaging techniques. Recognizing the pathophysiology of mental disorders has the potential of revealing alternative modes of therapy, ultimately improving the health and quality of life of patients suffering from neuro-psychiatric disorders.
Required Equipment to Support Dr. Bergeron’s Research
However, the experiments that Dr. Bergeron propose require recording tiny electrical currents (sometimes as small as 1 billionth of an Amp) from 2-3 neurons that are connected together. This requires a considerable initial outlay of capital for expensive and highly sensitive recording equipment. The amplifier that best suits his needs is the Multiclamp 700B from Molecular Devices (Sunnyvale, CA, USA) which costs around US$16,000. This amplifier is easily able to distinguish between the ambient electrical noise that is all around us (e.g. radio waves or power lines) and the tiny currents that flow through nerve cells as they go about their business. In addition, this amplifier enables us to record from two neurons at the same time, and coupling it with another amplifier already present in our laboratory, means that quadruple recordings can be made – recording from a true neuronal network. A further complication is that a neuron is about 1000 times smaller than a pinhead.
In order to record from the cells, it is necessary to be able to visualize them. In this case, a $30,000 Zeiss Axioskop (Toronto, ON) is the ideal microscope on which to perform these experiments. A highly sophisticated pattern of lenses enables the neurons to be visualized in true 3D, unlike cheaper microscopes which flatten out the neurons into a 2D structure. This means that he can place his recording equipment on specific and specialized parts of each neuron, even on something as small as one millionth of a centimeter, with relative ease.
Dr. Bergeron believes that if such equipment can be forthcoming, the scientific expertise that exists in his laboratory is more than adequate to perform these technically challenging experiments which will open the door to a better understanding of AD, and hopefully a new way of treating this debilitating disorder.