Cellular mechanisms of neuronal dysfunction

使用我们以前开发的SERCaMP技术，我们发现自助餐饮食和高脂肪饮食都导致大鼠肝脏ER钙功能障碍。 ER钙的失调与多种疾病状态有关。 我们的研究结果提供了一种可能的机制，通过这种机制，肝功能会对饮食中过量的脂肪做出反应。 我们的研究结果发表在《肝病学杂志》上。 内质网应激与内质网钙调节异常的关系尚不清楚。 为了促进我们对这种关系的理解，我们开发了一种方法，该方法结合使用两种不同的生物发光蛋白来同时监测内质网应激和钙稳态。 我们发表在PLOS ONE上的研究使我们能够研究这些细胞过程如何在神经退行性疾病和其他疾病中随时间变化。 我们描述了多种转基因工具的表征和开发，这些转基因工具在神经元中表达近红外荧光蛋白（IRFP）作为转基因表达的报告者。 用于可视化的较长波长的光提供了许多优于用于神经科学应用的其他荧光报告者的优点，这些应用与我们对神经元功能障碍的细胞机制的工作有关。 这项工作发表在J Neuroscience Methods上。 在与Yun Wang博士（NHRI，台湾）的合作中，我们已经证明9-顺式维甲酸可以改善中风的恢复。

Using a the SERCaMP technology that we previously developed, we found that both a cafeteria diet and high fat diet cause ER calcium dysfunction in rat liver. The dysregulation of ER calcium is implicated in wide variety of disease states. Our findings provide a possible mechanism by which liver function is altered in response to excessive fat in the diet. Our findings our published in the Journal of Hepatology. The relationship of ER stress and ER calcium dysregulation in not well understood. To facilitate our understanding of this relationship, we developed a method that uses two different bioluminescent proteins in combination to concurrently monitor endoplasmic reticulum stress and calcium homeostasis. Our study published in PLOS ONE enables us to study how these cellular processes change over time in neurodegeneration and other diseases. We describe the characterization and development of multiple transgenic tools that express a near-infrared fluorescent protein (IRFP) in neurons as a reporter of transgene expression. The longer wavelength of light used for visualization offers many advantages over other fluorescent reporters used for neuroscience applications related to our work on the cellular mechanisms of neuronal dysfunction. This work was published in J Neuroscience Methods. In collaboration with Dr. Yun Wang (NHRI, Taiwan), we have shown that 9-cis retinoic acid can improve recovery from stroke.