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Cox, Charles Lee
Associate Professor, Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Pharmacology, and Biophysics
Ph.D., University of California, Riverside
Research Areas
Functional organization and neuromodulation of thalamocortical circuits, Neuronal excitability, Synaptic Physiology and Plasticity, Epilepsy
My fundamental interests include the understanding of cellular mechanisms underlying behavioral plasticity. Using a .eductionist type approach, these cellular mechanisms likely serve as the bases for behavioral and cognitive functions such as attention, arousal, perception, learning and memory. My research is concentrated on the neurophysiology and pharmacology of neocortical and thalamic neurons in the mammalian central nervous system. The core of this research is on the cellular mechanisms involved with the regulation and modulation of neuronal excitability at both the synaptic and membrane level. These studies focus on thalamocortical circuits, because of the critical relationship of the neocortex and thalamus in sensory processing, behavioral arousal, attention and certain pathophysiological conditions such as epilepsy. While both the thalamus and neocortex are complicated structures individually, they also form an intricate, reciprocal relationship that is critical for understanding sensory/motor/associative processing at both the cellular and systems level. The importance of this works lies in the fact that the majority of behavioral activities including arousal, attention, sensory perception, learning and memory result from a concerted effort by multiple neuronal systems. Thus, information integration at the single cell level is very critical, as well as the role of these individual cells in circuit based activities. Long-lasting modifications in neuronal excitability (i.e., neuromodulation, synaptic plasticity) have also been hypothesized to be the cellular correlates underlying these behavioral activities.
Representative Publications
Lee S-H, Govindaiah G, and Cox CL. 2008. Excitatory actions of peptide histidine isoleucine on thalamic relay neurons. Neuropharmacology, in press.
Yang S, and Cox CL. 2008. Excitatory and anti-oscillatory actions of nitric oxide in thalamus. Journal of Physiology 586:3617-3628.
Lee S-H, Govindaiah, and Cox CL. 2007. Heterogeneity of firing properties among rat thalamic reticular neurons. Journal of Physiology 582:195-208.
Yang S, and Cox CL. 2007. Presynaptic enhancement of inhibitory activity by nitric oxide in the rat dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus. Journal of Neurophysiology 97:3386-3395.
Wilson BM, and Cox CL. 2007. Absence of metabotropic glutamate receptor-mediated plasticity in the neocortex of Fragile X mice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104:2454-2459.
Govindaiah G, and Cox CL. 2006. Metabotropic glutamate receptors differentially regulate GABAergic inhibition in thalamus. Journal of Neuroscience 26:13443-13453.
Govindaiah G, and Cox CL. 2006. Modulation of thalamic neuron excitability by orexins. Neuropharmacology 51:414-425.
Lee S-H, and Cox CL. 2006. Excitatory actions of vasoactive intestinal peptide in mouse thalamus are mediated by VPAC_2 receptors. Journal of Neurophysiology 96:858-871.
Govindaiah G, and Cox CL. 2006. Depression of retinogeniculate synaptic transmission by presynaptic D2-like dopamine receptors in rat lateral geniculate nucleus. European Journal of Neuroscience 23:423-434
Govindaiah G, and Cox CL. 2006. Excitatory actions of synaptically released catecholamines in the rat lateral geniculate nucleus. Neuroscience 137:671-683.
Additional Information
Related Research (By Area):
Cell Signaling and Communication
Neurological and Psychiatric Conditions
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