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Anesthesiology

Houston, Texas

Baylor College of Medicine's Department of Anesthesiology is located in the heart of the Texas Medical Center
Anesthesiology
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Cerebrovascular Research Laboratory Faculty

Jie Chen, M.D., Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Associate

Dr. Chen

Research Interests

gap junctions, cell-cell communication, cerebral blood flow

Current Posters

Experimental Biology, 2007

Address

One Baylor Plaza, Suite 433D
Houston, TX, 77030
Tel: 713-798-7720
Fax: 713-798-7644
Email: jc11@bcm.edu

Education

Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, China: M.D., 1993

Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, China: Ph.D., 2002

Description of Research

I am interested in the regulation of cerebral blood flow. Currently I focus on defining the role of gap junctions in mediating cerebrovascular function. Endothelial cells regulate the contractile state of vascular smooth muscle and play an important role in regulating cerebral blood flow. Indeed, recent evidence suggests that the control of vessel diameter in smaller arteries and arterioles by endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor (EDHF) may be more important than nitric oxide. Previous data from our laboratory have suggested that myoendothelial gap junctions mediate EDHF dilations in the rat middle cerebral artery. I am currently studying the expression pattern of gap junction proteins (connexins and pannexins) and their role in mediating cell-to-cell communication during normal and pathological conditions. We apply multiple techniques such as patch clamp, dye microinjection, gene transfection and RNAi.

Selected Publications

  • Burns AR, Zheng Z, Soubra SH, Chen J, Rumbaut RE: Transendothelial flow inhibits neutrophil transmigration through a nitric oxide-dependent mechanism: Potential role for cleft shear stress. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol Aug 24 2007. Medline Link
  • Sokoya EM, You, J, Chen, J: DCEBIO-mediated dilations are attenuated in the female rat middle cerebral artery. Journal of Vascular Research 44:169-174, 2007. Medline Link
  • Sokoya EM, Burns AR, Marrelli SP, Chen J: Myoendothelial gap junction frequency does not account for sex differences in EDHF responses in rat MCA. Microvasc Res 74(1):39-44, 2007. Medline Link
  • Haugen E, Chen J, Wikstrom J, Gronros J, Gan LM, Fu LX: Parallel gene expressions of IL-6 and BNP during cardiac hypertrophy complicated with diastolic dysfunction in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Int J Cardiol 115(1):24-8 2007. Medline Link
  • Chen J, Larsson L, Haugen E, Fedorkova O, Angwald E, Waagstein F, Fu M: Effects of autoantibodies removed by immunoadsorption from patients with dilated cardiomyopathy on neonatal rat cardiomyocytes. Eur J Heart Fail 8(5): 460-7 2006. Medline Link
  • Buvall L, Bollano E, Chen J, Shultze W, Fu M: Phenotype of early cardiomyopathic changes induced by active immunization of rats with a synthetic peptide corresponding to the second extracellular loop of the human beta-adrenergic receptor. Clin Exp Immunol 143(2):209-15, 2006. Medline Link

November 2, 2007