MCS Featured Lab - September 2019


Dr. Fabrice Dabertrand, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Departments of Anesthesiology (1ry) and Pharmacology
University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus
Dr Fabrice Dabertrand
 

Research Description:

Our research focuses on the control of cerebral blood flow in physiological and small vessels disease conditions. Our early studies focused on the control of smooth muscle and endothelial cell function by ion channels, providing some of the first measurements of membrane potential, calcium signaling, and diameter imaging of mouse pressurized parenchymal arterioles. Developing these approaches in murine microcirculation was a tour de force that lets us to use genetic mouse models and investigate potential treatments for cerebrovascular diseases. The emerging view from our work on CADASIL, an archetypal monogenic form of small vessel disease of the brain, is that fundamental alterations in extracellular matrix proteins disrupt the ion channel repertoire controlling vascular reactivity, and then cerebral hemodynamics, at a very early stage. Currently, our federally funded work is aimed at understanding the disruption of neurovascular coupling in disorders involving extracellular matrix alterations to shed light on vascular dementia.

Lab Website:

http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/medicalschool/departments/Anesthesiology/Research/labs/Dr.%20Dabertrand%20Lab/Pages/default.aspx

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/DabertrandFab

Top lesson you have learned in your career:

If you want to study microcirculation, start with a big effect. 

Recent Publications:

  • Dabertrand, Nelson, Brayden Acidosis dilates brain parenchymal arterioles by conversion of calcium waves to sparks to activate BK channels Circ Res 2012 (PMID 22095728)
  • Dabertrand et al Potassium channelopathy-like defect underlies early-stage cerebrovascular dysfunction in a genetic model of small vessel disease PNAS 2015 (PMID: 25646445)
  • Longden*, Dabertrand* et al Capillary K+-sensing initiates retrograde hyperpolarization to increase local cerebral blood flow Nat Neuro 2017 (PMID: 28319610)