John Ciriello
Professor
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PH.D. University of Western Ontario |
The overall objective of the research programme is the elucidation of neural mechanisms that control arterial pressure and cardiac function during the development of hypertension in males and females. A multidisciplinary approach is used to study central and peripheral components of the autonomic nervous system. The techniques employed in the laboratory are state-of-the-art and include 1) neuroanatomical tract tracing methods combined with immunocytochemistry for the identification of neurotransmitters contained within neural pathways, 2) the identification of gene expression in central structures in hypertension, 3) HPLC and radioimmunoassay for the identification of neurotransmitters and of hormones in the circulation, respectively, 4) the recording of electrical activity from single neurons in the central nervous system to investigate their function in circulatory control, 5) the recording of neuronal membrane currents wing patch-clamp tchniques, 6) the measurement of central metabolic activity using histochemical methods to identify structures that may be involved in the development of hypertension, and 7) recording of cardiovascular variables in the conscious and anesthetized animal.
Babic T, Roder S, Ciriello J. Direct projections from caudal ventrolateral medullary depressor sites to the subfornical organ. Brain Res. 2004 Apr 2;1003(1-2):113-21. Babic T, Ciriello J. Medullary and spinal cord projections from cardiovascular responsive sites in the rostral ventromedial medulla. J Comp Neurol. 2004 Feb 9;469(3):391-412. Ciriello J, Rosas-Arellano MP, Solano-Flores LP. Induction of c-fos in forebrain circumventricular organs after renal artery stenosis. Brain Res. 2004 Jan 2;995(1):109-17. Ciriello J, McMurray JC, Babic T, de Oliveira CV. Collateral axonal projections from hypothalamic hypocretin neurons to cardiovascular sites in nucleus ambiguus and nucleus tractus solitarius. Brain Res. 2003 Nov 21;991(1-2):133-41. Ciriello J, Li Z, de Oliveira CV. Cardioacceleratory responses to hypocretin-1 injections into rostral ventromedial medulla. Brain Res. 2003 Nov 21;991(1-2):84-95.
