Gonadal Steroids, Neurochemistry, Neurodegeneration, and Memory

Dean Dluzen, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Anatomy

Northeastern Ohio Universities
College of Medicine
4209 St. Rt. 44, P.O. Box 95
Rootstown, Ohio 44272-0095
Phone: (330) 325-6300
Fax: (330) 325-5913
Email: ded@neoucom.edu

Education:

1978-79	Postdoctoral	NIH Postdoctoral Fellow Traineeship: University of Illinois 1978 - 1979, Champaign/Urbana, IL
1978	Ph.D.	Physiological Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL
1976	M.S.	Physiological Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL
1973	B.S.	Psychology, DePaul University, Chicago, IL

Professional Experience:

1997-1998	DAAD Visiting Scholar Fellow: Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
1994 - Present	Associate Professor, Department of Anatomy, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine
1990 - 1994	Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine
1983 -1990	Research Associate/Visiting Lecturer, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Illinois
1980 - 1982	Research Associate, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Illinois
1980	Research Associate, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois
1978 - 1979	NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Reproductive Physiology Training Program, University of Illinois
1978	Research Assistant, Department of Ecology, Ethology and Evolution, University of Illinois
1975 - 1978	Teaching Assistant, Illinois Institute of Technology
1971 - 1973	Mental Health Coordinator, Chicago-Read Mental Health Center

Graduate Faculty Status:

Neuroscience, Pharmacology, and Physiology

Research Interests:

I have two major research areas which would fall into the general category of Neuroendocrinology/ Neurochemistry. The first area of research involves a study of the neurochemistry of the olfactory system and how this neurochemistry is modulated by hormones to affect behavioral responses involved with reproduction and memory/recognition processes. We have found that manipulations of gonadal steroid or neuropeptide hormones significantly alters noradrenergic functioning within the olfactory bulbs of rodents. Interestingly, these changes in olfactory bulb noradrenergic activity can then modify the display of memory/recognition responses to social and chemical cues.

The second major research area involves an examination of age-related and neurotoxin-induced changes of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system and how these neurodegenerative conditions are modulated by gonadal steroid hormones. Recently, we have demonstrated that the predominantly female gonadal steroid hormone, estrogen, appears to act as a neuroprotectant of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system. Such results have important implications since they may serve as the basis for understanding the gender difference which exist in Parkinson's Disease – an age-related neurodegenerative disorder involving the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system. Current work in our laboratory is directed at approaches which can help us to understand the mechanisms of action by which estrogen modulates and ultimately protects the functioning of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system.

Selected Publications:

Dluzen, D. E., K. A. Disshon and J. L. McDermott. Estrogen as a Modulator of Striatal Dopaminergic Neurotoxicity. In: Recent Advances in Neurodegenerative Disorders (J. Marwah and H. Tietelbaum, Eds.). In Press (1998).
Dluzen, D. E. Estrogen decreases corpus striatal neurotoxicity in response to 6-OHDA. Brain Research. 767:340 (1997).
McDermott, J. L., L. I. Anderson and D. E. Dluzen. Interactive effects of tamoxifen and estrogen within the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system. Neuroendocrinology. 66:181 (1997).
Shang, Y. and D. E. Dluzen. Castration reduces norepinephrine uptake activity in olfactory bulbs of male rats. Brain Research. 779:119 (1998).
Disshon, K. A., J. W. Boja and D. E. Dluzen. Inhibition of striatal dopamine transporter function by 17- estradiol. European Journal of Pharmacology 345:207 (1998).
Xu, K. and D. E. Dluzen. Alteration in L-DOPA evoked dopamine and dopac output under conditions of impaired vesicular dopamine storage. Journal of Neural Transmission . 105:1091 (1998).
Dluzen, D. E., S. Muraoka, M. Engelmann and R. Landgraf. The effects of infusion of arginine vasopressin, oxytocin or their antagonists into the olfactory bulb upon social recognition responses in male rats. Peptides - 19:999 (1998).