pharmphys

Fourth Graduate Student Distinguished Alumni Seminar

Lori L. McMahon, Ph.D., Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Alabama, Birmingham. "Sympathetic Sprouting Compensates for Deficits in Hippocampal Synaptic Plasticity and Learning in an Animal Model of Alzheimer's Disease." Tuesday, February 9, 2010, Lecture Room 3, 3:00 p,.m.

Nancy R. Zahniser, Ph.D., Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado - Denver School of Medicine. "Individual Diffrences in Low Dose Cocaine Activation in Rats Involve Brain Dopamine and Identify an "Addictive" Phenotype." Tuesday, February 23, 2010, Lecture Room 3, 3:00 p.m.

 

Byku, M., Macarthur, H., Westfall, T.C. Inhibitory effects of angiotensin-(1-7) on the nerve stimulation-induced release of norepinephrine and neuropeptide Y from the mesenteric arterial bed. Am. J. Physiol Heart Circ. Physiol 298:H457-H465, 2010.

Willis K Samson, Sara L Bagley, Alastair V Ferguson, and Meghan M White. Orexin Receptor Subtype Activation and Locomotor Behavior in the Rat. Acta Physiol (Oxf), Nov 2009;  PMID19889100.

Ariel, M. Ward, K.C. & Tolbert, D.L. (2009).  Topography of Purkinje cells and other calbindin-immunoreactive cells within adult and hatchling turtle cerebellum, Cerebellum, 8, 463-476.

Zahm D.S., Becker M.L., Freiman A.J., Strauch S., DeGarmo B., Geisler S., Meredith G.E., and Marinelli M.: Fos after single and repeated self-administration of cocaine and saline in the rat: emphasis on the basal forebrain and recalibration of expression. Neuropsychopharmacol. 35:445-463, 2010.

Linsenbardt, A.J., Wilken, G.H., Westfall, T.C., and Macarthur, H. Cytotoxicity of dopaminochrome in the mesencephalic cell line, MN9D, is dependent upon oxidative stress. NeuroToxicology, 30 (2009): 1030 -1035.

Banks, W.A., Erickson, M.A. The bloog-brain barrier and immune function and dysfunction. Neurobiol. of Disease. 37:26-32, 2010.

Samson WK: The evolving story of orexin biology: the hits keep coming. f1000 Biology Reports 2009, 1:85.
Specific URL: http://f1000biology.com/f1000reports/articles/10.3410/b1-85/article.html

Dr. Daniela Salvemini has been invited to give a talk at the International Pediatric Biomarker Symposium that will be held in Innsbruck, Austria, February 4-6, 2010.  The title of her talk “Potential use of sphingo-nitroxidative species as biomarkers in sepsis and inflammation” is part of the symposium on “Biomarkers and risk prediction in Sepsis, Infection and Inflammation”.

Dr. Zahm has been invited to co-organize a symposium entitled “Motivational Neuronal Network V - 'Reward circuit - emerging, reemerging and forgotten regions” to be held April 24-27, 2010, at the Shell Island Oceanfront Suites, Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.  Dr. Zahm with Dr. Phil Winn (St. Andrews, UK) will co-chair a focus group entitled “A lateral habenula-PPTg-LDTg-RMTg-dopaminergic network in reinforcement and disappointment”.

Thanks to a two year, $974,024 NIH-funded ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) grant, Saint Louis University and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville researchers are working to find better ways to manage chronic pain by treating neuroinflammation.

One-third of all Americans suffer from some sort of chronic pain, and the estimated cost of managing it with pain medication is $100 billion each year. Of those patients, 30 percent are resistant to pain killing medications. Chronic neuropathic pain, common with arthritis, cancer, diabetes and nerve injuries, can be debilitating and the ability to manage pain is a major determiner of quality of life. Current treatments often have varying degrees of effectiveness as well as side effects.

Working to address this problem, Daniela Salvemini, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacological and physiological science at SLU School of Medicine and William Neumann, assistant professor of medicinal chemistry in the SIUE School of Pharmacy, are leading a study to find a new approach to pain management drugs. Over the past decade, Salvemini's pioneering research led to the discovery of a key compound called peroxynitrite that is produced when there is inflammation in the body. It is the overproduction of this molecule that can cause chronic pain.

 "We discovered a substance, peroxynitrite, which turns out to be very important in the development of pain and inflammation. If we target that molecule, we hope we can find new therapies with fewer side effects," said Salvemini. "Currently, pain is often poorly managed. Our hope is to find better ways to eliminate human suffering.

"I'm so pleased that we are partnering with SIUE on this important work that has the potential to ease the pain of millions."

With peroxynitrite identified, researchers now will aim to target and destroy the offending molecule.

"Dr. Salvemini has pioneered some of the landmark preliminary pharmacological research and we're now working together to create a medicine to combat the chronic pain by targeting peroxynitrite," said Neumann.

"When you have inflammation in the body, reactive oxygen and nitrogen species are produced, which can lead to formation of the neurotoxic molecule, peroxynitrite," said Neumann. "Normally, these reactive molecules are kept under tight wraps by the body's own antioxidant defense systems. But, if these systems become compromised, as in a state of chronic pain, it actually can make the problem worse. We'll be looking at creating a synthetic enzyme that will go in and destroy the peroxynitrite."

The study is being funded by the NIH's National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.