BoBI Brownbag Meeting Friday, October 10

Posted on October 06, 2014

Friday October 10 at noon SR2 401. This Friday’s Brown bag presentation will be Caleb Robinson from the Leasure Lab. Caleb will talk about his previous thesis work from the Dougherty lab in the Neuroscience Graduate program at UTHSC-Houston.

Title: Mechanisms of Astrocyte Contribution to Bortezomib-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy

Abstract: One of the major side effects associated with chemotherapy treatment is the onset of peripheral neuropathy. This may present as numbness, tingling, other paresthesias, or painful symptoms. As symptoms worsen, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy may have a negative impact on quality of life or even patient survival rates, if the symptoms necessitate a cessation of treatment. Bortezomib is one such chemotherapeutic agent that may induce this neuropathy. As with other forms of insult to the nervous system that may induce neuropathy, there is mounting evidence that the inflammatory activity of glial cells may contribute to the onset of neuropathy. In a series of studies in rats treated with bortezomib, it was determined that sensitivity to sensory stimuli was increased, that astrocytes, but not microglia, were active in the same time course as behavioral changes, that a glial inhibitor prevented changes in behavior and astrocyte activation, and that altered expression of astrocyte gap junctions and glutamate transporters correlated with changes in behavior and astrocyte activation.