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1615 Poydras Street - Suite 1000
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Louisiana State University Health Sciences - Shreveport Areas of Research: Virotherapy of Neurodegenerative Disorders My research interests are primarily focused on cell replacement and gene therapies for neurodegenerative disorders, especially for Parkinson’s disease. My laboratory studies are highly relevant to, and have important impact on ongoing clinical trials with neural transplantation in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Current research projects focus on exploring a novel cellular gene delivery system by using genetically engineered neural progenitor cells as vehicles to deliver a therapeutic gene encoding glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) into the brain of a rat model of Parkinson’s disease. GDNF has proven to be a potent neurotrophic factor for protection of nigral dopamine neurons against toxin-induced degeneration in vitro and in vivo. One approach is using lentiviral vectors harboring a fluorescent marker gene, GFP and a human GDNF gene to infect neural progenitor cells, and characterize the virally infected cells. Another approach consist of implanting human GDNF-producing neural stem cells into a rat model of Parkinson’s disease to examine he effects of translated cells on the survival of dopamine neurons in the brain and the corrected of behavioral abnormalities. Another research project involves evaluating the effects of GDNF gene expression induced with a viral vector on single dopamine cells in the substantial nigra. Dopamine neurons will be infected with a lentiviral vector carrying both human GDNF and humanized GFP genes so that virally infected cells can be labeled with a GFP marker gene. A whole cell patch clam technique will be applied to examine physiological properties of a single GDNF producing dopamine cell. Single GFP labeled GDNF producing dopamine neurons will be dissected using laser captured microdissection technique, and RNA samples will be exclusively prepared from the GDNF producing dopamine cell and analyzed using real-time quantitative PCR. Selected Publications Zhao, L.R., Berra, H., Duan, W.M., Singhal, S., Metha, J., Apkarian, A.V., and Kessler, J. Beneficial effects of hematopoietic growth factors on chronic stroke. Neuroscience, (2006) Xue, Y.Q, Zhao, L.R., Guo, W.P., and Duan, W.M. Intrastriatal administration of erythropoietin protects dopaminergic neurons and improves neurobehavioral outcome in a rat model of Parkinson’s disease. Neuroscience Day, LSUHSC, 2006 Zhao, L.R., Spellman, S., Duan, W.M., McCarthy, J.B., and Low, W.C. Synthetic fibronectin peptide exerts neuroprotective effects on transient focal brain ischemia in rats. Brain Research, (2005) 1054:1-8 |
