The pharmaceutical industries face to a major issue, which is a very high failure rate in drug discovery, with 90% of failure in clinical trials. The central nervous system is particularly concerned, with an involvement in 30% of safety failure in clinical trials, but only in 7% in preclinical trials Read more…
The brain extracellular matrix (ECM) has a specific composition. Contrary to other organs, this ECM contains a low level of fibrous proteins, like collagen and fibronectin. Actually it is mainly composed of proteoglycans, which are composed of sulfated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) covalently bound to a core protein. Hayluronic acid (HA), a Read more…
The extracellular matrix (ECM) is composed of macromolecules surrounding the cells. They interact with each other and with the cells, cross-link and polymerize, ensuring the maintenance and the function of organs. The primary role of ECM is to support the cells by providing adhesion support, but its role goes beyond: Read more…
James W. Fawcett published the review « The extracellular matrix in plasticity and regeneration after CNS injury and neurodegenerative disease » in 2015, highlighting the key role of the chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs) of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in brain plasticity. CSPGs are present in the brain extracellular matrix and Read more…
Since last year, our PhD student Véronique De Conto has been working on the impact of microenvironment in cerebral in vitro model. On the supervision of our study director Dr. Elodie Vandenhaute and her thesis director Pr. Vincent Bérézowski (Inserm U1171), she developed two different cerebral in vitro models: A Read more…