Eliot R. Spindel
M.D., Harvard Medical School, 1982
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1980
Senior Scientist, Oregon Regional Primate Research Center
Adjunct Associate Professor, Cell and Developmental Biology
Nicotinic Receptors and Neuropeptides in Growth and Development
The brain influences normal growth and development of peripheral organs by direct innervation and by secretion of locally acting hormones. A major goal of our laboratory is to understand the role of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in normal lung development and how that role is affected by prenatal exposure to nicotine. Our approach is to characterize the molecular mechanisms underlying nicotine's actions on development and the interaction between acetylcholine, nicotine, and nicotinic receptors. Our laboratory uses a wide variety of approaches ranging from cloning of new receptor subtypes to whole animal studies in monkeys and knockout mice to clinical studies examining the effects of smoking during pregnancy on nicotinic receptor function. Particular interests include identifying the nicotinic receptor subtypes present in developing lung and characterizing the regulation of acetylcholine synthesis in developing lung.
A second area of interest is the role of bombesin-like peptides in the CNS and in lung development. Studies are ongoing to discover additional bombesin-like peptide receptors that are expressed in the CNS.
- Sekhon HS, Jia Y, Raab R,
Kuryatov A, Pankow JF, Whitsett JA, Lindstrom J,Ý Spindel ER.ÝÝ
Prenatal nicotine increases pulmonary 7 nicotinic receptor
expression and alters fetal lung development in monkeys.Ý J Clin Invest 1999; 103:637-647.
- Leng L, Gu GB, Simerly RB, Spindel ER. Molecular cloning and characterization of two putative G protein-coupled receptors which are highly expressed in the central nervous system. Brain Res Mol Brain Res 1999; 69:73-83.
- Sekhon HS, Keller JA, Benowitz NL, Spindel ER. Prenatal Nicotine Exposure Alters Pulmonary Function in Newborn Rhesus Monkeys . Am J Respir Crit Care Med (In Press).