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Department of
Biology and Wildlife
University of Alaska
Fairbanks
PO
Box 75700
Fairbanks, AK 99775-7000 |
After
completing her undergraduate work in Marine Biology at the University of British
Columbia, Canada, Barbara Taylor received a M.S. in Marine Biology in 1990
and a Ph.D. in Marine Biology from the University
of of British Columbia in 1997. Following postdoctoral positions
at the University of Calgary and Dartmouth Medical School, she moved
to the
University of Alaska Fairbanksas an Assistant Professor in 2003.
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RESEARCH
INTERESTS OF THE TAYLOR LABORATORY
Sudden
infant death syndrome (SIDS) is a leading cause of post-neonatal infant
mortality in North America, and has a disproportionately high incidence in
Alaska and among Alaska Natives. The causes of SIDS are unknown, but it is
characterized by ventilatory failure. In all vertebrates, ventilation is
controlled by the brainstem. A medullary serotonin (5-HT) network resides
within the brainstem, and consists of serotonergic neurons and their
synaptic targets, which express 5-HT receptors. This medullary 5-HT
network acts as a gain-modulating system by influencing the intensity of
responses in a wide variety of behaviors, including ventilation.
Functional deficits in the medullary 5-HT network have been implicated in
a subset of SIDS. These deficits are proposed to compromise reflex
ventilatory responses to hypercapnia and hypoxia, which are common, but
potentially life-threating, ventilatory stressors. Fetal exposure to
ethanol or nicotine has also been implicated in SIDS and the development
of these deficits. The consequences of 5-HT- signaling deficits and the
causative roles of ethanol and nicotine in the development of these
deficits have not been elucidated. My laboratory is employing the
amphibian brainstem model for its simplicity and robustness for in vitro
approaches providing a unique opportunity to investigate medullary
5-HT-signaling during development and to manipulate the developmental
environment. We are using this model to define ventilation-related
functions of medullary 5-HT-signaling at different stages of development,
and the disruption of 5-HT-signaling by developmental exposure to ethanol
and nicotine. Our working hypothesis is that an undisturbed
neuromodulation by the medullary 5-HT neuronal network is pivotal
throughout development for proper modulation of ventilation and
ventilatory responses to hypercapnia and hypoxia.
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SELECTED
PUBLICATIONS
Taylor
BE, Harris MB, Leiter JC, and Gdovin MJ (2003). Ontogeny of central CO2
chemoreception: chemosensitivity in the ventral medulla of developing
bullfrogs. Am. J. Physiol. Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol. 285:R1461-1472.
Taylor
BE, Harris MB, Coates EL, Gdovin MJ, and Leiter JC, (2003). Central
respiratory CO2 chemoreception in developing bullfrogs: Anomalous response
to acetazolamide. J. Appl Physiol 94:1204-1212.
Taylor
BE, Harris MB, Burk M, Smith K, Lukowaik K,and Remmers JE (2003). Nitric
oxide mediates metabolism as well as respiratory and cardiac responses to
hypoxia in the snail Lymnaea stagnalis. J Exp Zool 295:37-46
Harris
MB, Wilson RJA, Vasilakos K, Taylor BE, and Remmers JE (2002) Nitric oxide
modulates central respiratory activity in the in vitro brainstem of the
tadpole. Am J Physiol 283:R417-428 Taylor
BE, Smyth K, Remmers JE, and Lukowiak K (2001) Metabolic consequences of
hypoxic conditioning in Lymnea Stagnalis, pp 225-230. In: Adv
Exp Med Biol: Frontiers in Modeling and Control of Breathing.
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