Oaksj@svm.vetmed.wisc.edu

Education

• AB - Biology - 1964, Colby College
• MS - Parasitology - 1968, Tulane University
• PhD - Cell Biology - 1970, Tulane University
  

Current Affiliations

• American Society of Parasitologists (President 1997-1998)
• American Society of Veterinary Parasitologists
• American Society for Cell Biology
• American Physiological Society

Principal Research Interests

My current research focuses upon several questions:

“Can cGMP, the signal molecule secreted by tapeworms, be added to drug preparations as an expedient to increase the uptake of poorly absorbed drugs?”

If cGMP increases residence time for drugs, it should increase the absorption of those drugs. Many drugs, currently in use, are taken up at rates of 1-50% of the drug administered orally. Increasing efficiency of uptake could: decrease side effects because less drug would be administered to reach effective amounts, and decrease the contamination of the environment with the unabsorbed drug that pass through the alimentary system. Unabsorbed drug are believed to account for a substantial portion of the drug that reaches the environment and causing drug resistance in bacteria.

“cGMP can slow transit in our rat model, can it slow intestinal transit in other animals?”

Research in conjunction with a colleague, Dr. David Barns, showed a significant gain in feed utilization efficiency when chickens were fed a diet including cGMP. Does cGMP slow intestinal motility in chickens? Does cGMP slow intestinal motility in mammals? Do the small intestines of animals with multiple chambered stomach respond to cGMP? What about humans?

“How do tapeworms make and secrete cGMP?”

cGMP is a metabolically expensive molecule to make. Tapeworms must be able to synthesize and secrete this molecule in balance with its other needs for energy and it ability to compete with the host for nutrition from the intestinal lumen. Nothing is known about how this is accomplished.

"I do not want a tapeworm in my pork;
I will not eat a tapeworm with my fork"

Dr. Oaks creates etchings, including those of parasites. He works in a studio he shares in Madison, called Crooked Line Etching Studio.

Areas of Teaching Responsibility

Veterinary histology 934:501; graduate seminar in gut function and behavior.

Representative Publications

Lumsden, R.D., J.A. OAKS and R.R. Mills.  1969.  Mitochondrial oxidation of diaminobenzidine and its relationship to the cytochemical localization of tapeworm peroxidase.  J. Parasitology 55: 1119-113. 

Lumsden, R.D., L.T. Threadgold, J.A. OAKS and C. Arme.  1970.  On the permeability of cestodes to colloids: an evaluation of the transmembranosis hypothesis.  Parasitology 60: 185-193.              

Lumsden, R.D., J.A. OAKS and W.L. Alworth.  1970.  Cytological studies on the absorptive surfaces of cestodes.  IV.  Localization and cytochemical properties of membrane-fixed cation binding sites. J. Parasitology 56: 736-747. 

Lumsden, R.D., J.A. OAKS and S.C. Dike.  1970.  Cytoarchitectural and cytochemical features of tapeworm surfaces.  J. Parasitology 56(4:11-1 of 3): 217.

OAKS, J.A. and R.D. Lumsden.  1971.  Cytological studies on the absorptive surfaces of cestodes.  V. Incorporation of carbohydrate-containing macromolecules into tegument membranes.  J. Parasitology 57: 1256-1268.

Lumsden, R.D., J.A. OAKS and J.F. Mueller.  1974.  Brush  border development in the tegument of the tapeworm,  Spirometra mansonoides.  J. Parasitology 60: 209-226.

Kayes, S.G. and J.A. OAKS.  1976.  Effect of inoculum size and length of infection of the distribution of Toxocara canis larvae in the mouse.  J. Top. Med. Hygiene 25: 573-580.

OAKS, J.A. and W.J. Knowles.  1977.  A simple method of obtaining an enriched fraction of tegumental brush border from Hymenolepis diminuta.  J. Parasitology 63: 476-485.

Cain, G.D., W.J. Johnson and J.A. OAKS.  1977.  Lipids from subcellular fractions of the tegument of Hymenolepis diminuta.  J. Parasitology 63: 486-491.

Fisher, Jr., R.M. and J.A. OAKS.  1978.  Evidence for a non-intestinal nutritional mechanism in the Rhynchocoelan, Lineus ruber.  Bio. Bull. 154: 213-225.

OAKS, J.A.  1978.  Ultrastructure of Lineus ruber (Rhynchocoela) epidermis.  Tissue and Cell 10: 227- 242.

Kayes, S.G. and J.A. OAKS.  1978.  Development of the granulomatous response in murine toxocariasis.  I. Initial Events.  Am. J. Pathology 93: 277-294.

Knowles, W. and J.A. OAKS.  1979.  Isolation and biochemical characterization of the tegumental free-surface plasmalemma of the tapeworm, Hymenolepis diminuta.  J. Parasitology 65: 715-739.

Kayes, S.G. and J.A. OAKS.  1980.  The role of the T lymphocyte in murine toxocariasis and its relationship to the onset of eosinophilia.  Exp. Parasitology 49: 47-55.

Snow, E.C., T.L. Feldbush and J.A. OAKS.  1980. The role of  insulin in the response of murine T lymphocytes to mitogenic stimulation in vitro. J. Immunology 124: 739-744.

OAKS, J.A. and S.G. Kayes.  1980.  Artificial hatching and culture of Toxocara canis second stage larvae.  J. Parasitology 65: 69-70.

Snow, E.C., T. Feldbush and J.A. OAKS.  1981.  The effect of growth hormone and insulin upon MLC responses and the generation of cytotoxic lymphocytes.  J. Immunology 126: 161-164.

OAKS, J.A. and J.F. Mueller.  1981.  Location of carbohydrate in the tegument of the procercoid of Spirometra mansonoides.  J. Parasitology 67: 325-331.

OAKS, J.A., G.D. Cain, R.K. Raj and D.A. Mower.  1981.  Disruption and removal of the tegument from Schistosoma mansoni:  Triton X-100. J. Parasitology 67: 761-775.

OAKS, J.A., G.D. Cain, D.A. Mower and R.K. Raj.  1983.  Comparison of calcium, freeze-thaw and Triton X-100 tegumental disruption/recovery techniques applied to  Schistosoma mansoni.  J. Parasitology 69: 519-533.

Watzke, R.C., J.A. OAKS, and Folk, J.C.  1984.  Toxocara canis infection of the eye.  Arch. Ophth.  102: 282-291.

Robertson, N.P., J.A. OAKS, G.D. Cain.  1984.  Biochemical Characterization of polysaccharides of the egg and adults of the rat tapeworm, Hymenolepis diminuta.  Molec. Biochem. Parasitol. 10: 99-109.

Holy, J.M. and J.A. OAKS. 1986. Ultrastructure of tegumental microvilli (microtriches) of Hymenolepis diminuta. Cell and Tissue Res. 244: 457-466.

Holy, J.M. and J.A. OAKS. 1987. Mechanical integration of  muscle, tegument and sub-tegumental tissues by anchoring  fibrils and microfibrils in the cestode Hymenolepis  diminuta.  Tissue and Cell 19: 881-891.

Holy, J.M., K. O'Leary, J.A. OAKS and J. Tracy. 1989. Immunocytochemical localization of major glutathione S-transferases in the adult Schistosoma mansoni. J. Parasit.  75: 181-190.

Holy, J.M. and J.A. OAKS. 1989. Cytoskeletal features of the  syncytial epidermis of the tapeworm Hymenolepis diminuta.  Cell Motil. & The Cytoskel. 13:41-56.

Abraham, D., J.A. OAKS and R.B.Grieve. 1990. Dirofilaria imitis: Molting process of third stage larva. Experimental Parasitology 70: 314-322.

Holy, J.M., J.A. OAKS, M. Mika-Grieve and R. Grieve. 1991. Development and dynamics of regional specialization within the syncytial epidermis of the rat tapeworm, Hymenolepis diminuta. Parasitology Research 77:161-172.

Forman, L.M. and J.A. OAKS. 1992. Effect of dimethyl sulfoxide on the brush border of the cestode Hymenolepis diminuta. Parasitology Research 78:66-73.

Bowman, D., J.A. OAKS and R.B.Grieve. 1993. Ultrastructure of the infective-stage larva of Toxocara canis (Nematoda: Ascaridoidea).  J. Helminthological Society (Washington) 60: 183-204.

Dwinell, M. B., P. Bass and J.A. OAKS. 1994. Intestinal myoelectric alterations in rats chronically infected with the tapeworm Hymenolepis diminuta.  Am. J. Physiology 267: G851-G858

OAKS, J. and J. Holy. 1994. Hymenolepis diminuta: Two morphologically distinct tegumental secretory mechanisms are present in the cestode. Experimental Parasitology 79: 292-300

Dwinell, M.B., P. Bass and J.A. OAKS. 1995. Praziquantel treatment normalizes intestinal myoelectric alterations associated with Hymenolepis diminuta infected rats. J. Parasitology 81 (6): 979-984

Hildreth, M. B., P. W. Pappas and  J.A. OAKS. 1997. Effect of tunicamycin on the uptake and incorporation of galactose Hymenolepis diminuta. J. Parasitology 83: 555-558

Dwinell, M.B., D.M. Schaeffer, P. Bass and J.A. OAKS. 1997. Tapeworm Infection decreases intestinal transit and enteric aerobic bacterial populations.   Am. J. Physiology 273: G480-G485

Dwinell, M.B., R.M. Wise, P. Bass and J.A. OAKS. 1998. Mucosal mastocytosis and smooth muscle hypertrophy in tapeworm infected rats.  Experimental Parasitology 89: 92-102

Dwinell, M.B., P. Bass and J.A. OAKS. 1998. In vivo stimulation of rat intestinal myoelectric alterations by Hymenolepis diminuta cellular fractions.  J. of  Parasitology 84: 673-680

Starke, W. A. and J.A. OAKS. 1999. Mucosal mast cell apoptosis after praziqantel removal of the tapeworm Hymenolepis diminuta from rats. Experimental Parasitology 92:171-181

Olson, E.J., J.A. OAKS, G.D. Osmundson and M.B. Hildreth. 2000. Ultrastructural and lectin-histochemical differences between the scolex/strobila and bladder teguments of the Taenia taeniaeformis strobilocercus.  J. of Parasitology 86:18-24

Wise, R. M., P. Bass and J.A. OAKS. 2000. Differential myoelectric response of upper and lower small intestine to lumenal infection by the tapeworm, Hymenolepis diminuta. Am. J. Physiology (in review)

Zimmerman, N.P., P. Bass and J. A. OAKS. 2000. Modulation of intestinal permeability in the rat during infection with the tapeworm, Hymenolepis diminuta.   Am. J. Physiology (in review)

Dwinell, K. L., P. Bass, G. L. Telford and J. A. OAKS. 2000. Effect of surgical alteration of the rat gastrointestinal tract on the growth and development of Hymenolepis diminuta. J. of Parasitology (in review)

Wagner  C., P. Bass and J. A. OAKS. 2000. Serotonin, but not Substance P, is involved in tapeworm-altered small intestinal myoelectric activity in the rat.  Am. J. Physiology (in review)

Dwinell, K. L., P. Bass and J. A. OAKS. 2000. Small intestinal transection decreases the frequency of tapeworm-altered myoelectric patterns in the rat. Am. J. Physiology (in review)

Dwinell, K. L., P. Bass and J. A. OAKS. 2000. Ile-ectomy, but not jejunectomy, reduces establishment/ survival of Hymenolepis diminuta in the small intestine of the rat.   Gastroenterology (submitted)

Starke W. and J. A. OAKS. 2000. Modification of mucosal mast cell, eosinophil and goblet cell populations by Hymenolepis diminuta in the small intestine of the rat. Journal of Parasitology (in preparation)

Kroening, K. D., P. Bass and J. A. OAKS.  2000. Tapeworm-signal molecules: Partial characterization of the secreted factor from Hymenolepis diminuta inducing Sustained Spike Potentials in intestinal smooth muscle of the rat.  Molecular Parasitology (in preparation)

Kroening, K. D., N. Zimmerman, P. Bass and J. A. OAKS. 2003. Guanosine 3'-5'-cyclic monophosphate: A tapeworm-secreted signal molecule communicating with the host's intestine. J. Parasitology 89:1136-1141

Published Non-Peer Reviewed Publications

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