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Abstract

RESEARCH INTERESTS Stress in all forms has dire consequences for the overall health of individuals. Dr. Alkadhi’s lab focuses on studying the coincidence of chronic psychosocial stress and disorders that affect brain function such as Alzheimer’s disease, hypothyroidism and sleep deprivation. We recently have developed a preclinical rat model of Alzheimer’s disease to test the role of chronic stress in revealing prototype of the disease. We use an integrated approach where we associate behavioral findings with electrophysiological recordings of correlates of learning and memory from brains of anesthetized animals and with levels and activities of learning and memory-related signaling molecules. We are also evaluating potential neuroprotective drugs (e.g. nicotine) and measures (e.g. regular exercise) that can counter the effects of these disorders. Dr. Alkadhi’s lab also studies synaptic plasticity in the peripheral nervous system and has pioneered the discovery of the neurotransmitter required for expression of long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) in sympathetic ganglia. We also established that psychosocial stress-induced hypertension is associated with expression of ganglionic LTP. A presently ongoing project is to establish possible connection between epileptic seizure-induced LTP in sympathetic ganglia and sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). PUBLICATIONS Over 130 research articles, reviews and book chapters