Kafait U Malik
University of Tennessee Health Science Center, TN·Pharmacology
High blood pressure caused by the hormone angiotensin II (Ang II) rises less in female mice than in male mice. Why the sexes differ is not well understood.
- Fields
Pharmacology
Physiology
- Topics
hypertension
high blood pressure
angiotensin II
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2027
What they work on
- Determine how the brain's arachidonic acid/ALOX15 pathway in the paraventricular nucleus contributes to angiotensin II-induced hypertension in female and male mice, using adenovirus gene tools and radiotelemetry.
- Test how CYP1B1-generated hormone metabolites, 2-methoxyestradiol from estrogen and 6β-hydroxytestosterone from testosterone, interact with ALOX15 to produce sex differences in blood pressure, using Cyp1b1 knockout mice.
- Examine the roles of Cyp4a10 and Cyp4a12a, enzymes making the blood-pressure-raising lipid 20-HETE, and their interaction with sex-steroid metabolites in hypertension and its organ damage.
- Assess hypertension-related damage, including immune cell buildup in aorta, kidney and brain, using flow cytometry, histology and mass spectrometry of eicosanoids and sex steroids.
More about the research
This project focuses on the paraventricular nucleus (PVN), a brain region that helps control blood pressure. It proposes that the difference comes from how sex-hormone byproducts interact with blood-pressure-raising fat-derived signals in this region.
Why it matters
The work could identify ALOX15 and Cyp4a enzymes in the brain, and receptors for 12(S)-HETE and 20-HETE, as targets for selective drugs. Such drugs might treat hypertension and its associated neuroinflammation, blood vessel dysfunction and kidney damage in both women and men.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Teresa A Milner
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, NY·Neuroscience
Test whether altered GluA1 signaling in PVN neurons contributes to angiotensin II-induced hypertension in post-AOF mice. GluA1 is part of AMPA glutamate receptors, which relay fast excitatory signals between neurons.
Michal Laniado Schwartzman
New York Medical College, NY·Pharmacology
Test whether removing Gpr75 only from endothelial cells, the cells lining blood vessels, protects mice from diet-driven obesity, high blood sugar, insulin resistance and hypertension.
Brendan Dougherty
University of Minnesota, MN·Neuroscience
Test whether spinal estrogen receptor signaling is necessary for respiratory neuroplasticity in female and male rats, using nerve recordings of breathing output with estrogen receptor drugs and siRNA gene knockdown.
The school
University of Tennessee Health Science Center: 4 labs on PI Pages, $125M a year on research, 197 research doctorates a year.
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