Area of research
Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience · Molecular Biology
Research interest
Research topics from publications: Long‐term obesogenic diet and targeted deletion of potassium channel K v 1.3 have differing effects on voluntary exercise in mice; Voluntary Exercise Modifies Olfactory Circuits in Control‐ and Fat‐Fed Mice; Obesogenic diet and targeted deletion of potassium channel K v 1.3 have differing effects on voluntary exercise in mice. Representative work: Voluntary exercise is frequently employed as an intervention for obesity. The voltage-gated potassium channel Kv1.3 is also receiving attention as a therapeutic target for obesity, in addition to potential therapeutic capabilities for neuroinflammatory diseases. To investigate the combinatorial effects of these two therapies, we have compared the metabolic status and voluntary exercise behavior of both wild-type mice and a transgenic line of mice that are genetic knockouts for Kv1.3 when provided with a running wheel and maintained on diets of differing fat content and caloric density. We tracked the metabolic parameters and wheel running behavior while maintaining the mice on their assigned Consumption of a fatty diet causes loss of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs), loss of olfactory discrimination assessed by olfactometry and electroolfactogram, and increased inflammation in the olfactory epithelium. Because of potential anti‐inflammatory properties of voluntary exercise, we hypothesized it could mitigate the detrimental effects of a fatty diet on the olfactory system. Mice with reporters for the olfactroy receptor M72 (Olfr160) and those with resistance to diet‐induced obesity (Kv1.3−/−) were challenged with control (CF) vs. moderately‐high fat (MHF) diet for 6 months upon weaning, with (running wheel; RW) and without access (sedentary; SED) to a Med Associates vertical wirel