by Jennifer Kowalewski
The Appalachian Rural Health Institute’s (ARHI)
Diabetes/Endocrine Center monthly seminar will take place
Tuesday, Oct. 11. Shawn Bender, Ph.D. candidate in the
departments of biomedical sciences and biological sciences, will
present “Functional Alteration in Coronary Arteries of
Pre-Diabetic Obese Mice” at noon in Grosvenor Hall, Room 113.
The second Tuesday of the month, ARHI sponsors a seminar
presenting important diabetes and/or cardiovascular research for
college and university audiences.
“We use a mouse model of diet-induced obesity and diabetes to
examine alterations in coronary function by utilizing
pharmacological methods. Specifically, we are interested in
three coronary regulatory systems: the nitric oxide,
endothelin-1 and alpha-adrenoceptor systems,” Bender says.
In the past, research has focused on the systems individually.
The research being done by Bender looks at obesity and diabetes
and how they interact across the three. Bender works under the
direction of Richard Klabunde, Ph.D., associate professor
of biomedical sciences.
Research has pointed to coronary function suffering tremendously
in the diabetic state.
“We have found very significant alterations in coronary function
in these animals that have been obese and diabetic for fewer
than four months,” says Bender. “Imagine then the effect that 10
years of diabetes would have in human coronary arteries? As we
know, the impact is very significant, especially here in
Appalachian Ohio.
“Heart disease is the leading cause of death for diabetics in
this country. A dysfunctional coronary system is one of the
early and integral steps for the occurrence of a heart attack.”
Knowing exactly how diabetes negatively affects coronary
functions can help medical personnel intervene to correct the
problem. Following this study, there are more questions to be
answered, such as determining the role of oxygen free radicals
in diabetes induced coronary dysfunction and analyzing the
effectiveness of antioxidants in reducing these defects.
“I’m excited to present our work in this series,” says Bender.
“The emphasis on diabetes research here at the University
benefits tremendously from it, not only from the exposure to
what each lab is doing but also in the collaborative
opportunities that arise from the discussions during the series.
Our work is just a piece of the diabetes puzzle and this series
gives us a chance to “talk” with the other pieces in an effort
to see the big picture of how diabetes is seen in our
experimental models and how that ultimately will translate into
human advancement in the prevention and treatment of diabetes.”
The ARHI Diabetes/Endocrine
Center’s ongoing mission is research and educational programs
that further diabetes research, improve patient care and
clinical training, and promote diabetes education.
For more
information, please contact Suzanne Vazzano,
administrative assistant, at (740) 593-2333.
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News for
the week of Oct 3 –
Oct 8
