Home > Program Faculty >Jyoti Watters Laboratory
- Our research focuses on delineating the role of the MAP kinase pathways in controlling microglial cell production of inflammatory mediators, and how hypoxia and hypoxia and
reperfusion injury modulate the activity of purinergic P2 receptors for extracellular ATP and their signaling pathways. Selective alterations in the activity of purinergic receptors may provide a novel therapeutic target that can be exploited to minimize damage to the brain following ischemic injury.
- Another area of our research centers on delineating the anti-inflammatory effects of estrogen on microglial cell activation at the molecular level, by dissecting the signal transduction pathways and receptors that are modulated by estrogen in activated microglial cells. Defining the molecular mechanisms involved in the estrogen modulation of microglial cell activation and their production of inflammatory mediators, may lead to the identification of novel therapeutic targets that can be exploited to minimize the brain damage ensuing from neurodegenerative diseases and other brain disorders, to which women are predisposed.
Watters. J.J., Sommer, J.A., Pfeiffer, Z.A., Guerra, A.N., Prabhu, U. and Bertics, P.J. 2002 A differential role for the mitogen- activated protein kinases in LPS signaling: the MEK/ERK pathway is not essential for nitric oxide and interleukin-1beta production. J. Biological Chemistry 277(11): 9077-9087.[Full text]
Watters, J.J., Chun, T.Y., Kim, Y.N., Bertics, P.J. and Gorski, J. 2000 Estrogen modulation of prolactin gene expression requires an intact mitogen activated protein kinase signal transduction pathway in cultured rat pituitary cells. Molecular Endocrinology 14(11): 1872-1881.[Full text]
Watters, J.J. and Dorsa, D.M. 1998 Transcriptional effects of estrogen on neurotensin gene expression involve cAMP/protein kinase A-dependent signalling mechanisms. J. Neuroscience 18(17): 6672-6680.[Full text]
Watters, J.J., Campbell, J.S., Cunningham, M.J., Krebs, E.G. and Dorsa, D.M. 1997 Rapid membrane effects of steroids in neuroblastoma cells: Effects of estrogen on the mitogen activated protein kinase signalling cascade and c-fos immediate early gene transcription. Endocrinology 138(9): 4030-4033.[Full text]
Zhou, Y., Watters, J.J. and Dorsa, D.M. 1996 Estrogen rapidly induces the phosphorylation of the cAMP response element binding protein in rat brain. Endocrinology 137(5): 2163-2166. [Abstract]