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Martin Wessendorf, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience
wesse001@umn.edu |
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 Brainstem
control of spinal function: methods of fluorescence microscopy.
Almost everything we do and every sensation we perceive appears to
be under the control of the brain. However, the mechanism by which
this control is exerted is unclear. Our laboratory is interested in
how the brainstem -- in particular, the serotonergic neurons of the
lower brainstem -- controls the function of neurons in the spinal
cord. Some, but not all, serotonergic neurons of the lower brainstem
also contain other neurotransmitters -- chiefly, neuropeptides. We
have examined the projections of these different types of serotonergic
cells and found that there were distinct patterns of innervation:
the cells containing neuropeptides predominantly innervated motor
regions and the cells not containing neuropeptides innervated sensory
regions. These differences suggest that these different types of serotonergic
neurons have different functions. We are also localizing different
types of serotonergic receptor to determine if different types of
spinal neurons employ different receptors, i.e. if there is a functional
organization at the level of receptors.
The techniques that we employ include sophisticated types of optical
microscopy, specifically, confocal microscopy, which allows tissue
to be stained with several different fluorescent labels and "optically
sectioned." In addition to our studies of receptor localization we
combine molecular biological methods such as in situ hybridization
with fluorescent neuronal labeling. Our research has required us to
engineer several novel microscopic methods and doing so has been part
of the job of this work.
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Selected Publications
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Brelje TC, Wessendorf MW, Sorenson RL
Multicolor laser scanning confocal immunofluorescence microscopy: practical application and limitations.
Methods Cell Biol. 2002;70:165-244 |
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Marinelli S, Vaughan CW, Schnell SA, Wessendorf MW, Christie MJ
Rostral ventromedial medulla neurons that project to the spinal cord express multiple opioid receptor phenotypes.
J Neurosci. 2002 Dec 15;22(24):10847-55 |
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Peoples JF, Wessendorf MW, Pierce T, Van Bockstaele EJ
Ultrastructure of endomorphin-1 immunoreactivity in the rat dorsal pontine tegmentum: evidence for preferential targeting of peptidergic neurons in Barrington's nucleus rather than catecholaminergic neurons in the peri-locus coeruleus.
J Comp Neurol. 2002 Jul 1;448(3):268-79 |
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Wang H, Wessendorf MW.
Mu- and delta-opioid receptor mRNAs are expressed in periaqueductal
gray neurons projecting to the rostral ventromedial medulla.
Neuroscience
2002;109(3):619-34 |
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Wessendorf MW, Dooyema J.
Coexistence of kappa- and delta-opioid receptors in rat spinal cord
axons.
Neurosci
Lett 2001 Feb 9;298(3):151-4 |
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Wang H, Wessendorf MW.
Equal proportions of small and large DRG neurons express opioid receptor
mRNAs.
J
Comp Neurol 2001 Jan 22;429(4):590-600 |
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