The Mouse Phenome Database (MPD) provides access to primary experimental trait data, genotypic variation, protocols and analysis tools for mouse genetic studies. Data are contributed by investigators worldwide and represent a broad scope of phenotyping endpoints and disease-related traits in naïve mice and those exposed to drugs, environmental agents or other treatments. MPD ensures rigorous curation of phenotype data and supporting documentation using relevant ontologies and controlled vocabularies. As a repository of curated and integrated data, MPD provides a means to access/re-use baseline data, as well as allows users to identify sensitized backgrounds for making new mouse models with genome editing technologies, analyze trait co-inheritance, benchmark assays in their own laboratories, and many other research applications. MPD’s primary source of funding is NIDA. For this reason, a majority of MPD data is neuro- and behavior-related.

This lecture focuses on how the immune system can target and attack the nervous system to produce autoimmune responses that may result in diseases such as multiple sclerosis, neuromyelitis, and lupus cerebritis manifested by motor, sensory, and cognitive impairments. Despite the fact that the brain is an immune-privileged site, autoreactive lymphocytes producing proinflammatory cytokines can cause active brain inflammation, leading to myelin and axonal loss.

This lecture provides an overview of some of the essential concepts in neuropharmacology (e.g. receptor binding, agonism, antagonism), an introduction to pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics, and an overview of the drug discovery process relative to diseases of the central nervous system. 

This lecture covers the ethical implications of the use of pharmaceuticals to enhance brain functions and was part of the Neuro Day Workshop held by the NeuroSchool of Aix Marseille University.