Lila Wollman
University of Oregon, OR·Physiology·Early-career
Breathing adjusts automatically when oxygen levels fall, and that reflex depends on specialized oxygen-sensing tissue in the neck and on brainstem circuits that read its signals. Nicotine acts on the same receptors these cells use, which raises a question with direct clinical stakes: what happens to the body's response to low oxygen when a nicotine-dependent person stops using nicotine?
- Fields
Physiology
Neuroscience
Pharmacology
- Topics
nicotine withdrawal
oxygen sensing
hypoxia
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jan 2028
What they work on
- Test how 48 hours of nicotine withdrawal changes the breathing response to 10, 12, or 15% oxygen in adult rats using plethysmography, and whether a single acute nicotine dose restores the blunted response.
- Measure whether withdrawal alters oxygen sensing in the carotid body, the small neck organ that detects blood oxygen, and activation of neurons in the nucleus tractus solitarius brainstem region in living animals.
- Record phrenic nerve output, the signal that drives the diaphragm, together with fiber-photometry calcium imaging of brainstem neurons to pinpoint where the hypoxia response weakens during withdrawal.
- Use whole-cell patch clamp on glomus cells from excised carotid bodies and on NTS neurons in brainstem slices to test whether withdrawal changes nicotinic acetylcholine receptor function.
More about the research
Hospitalized patients often abstain from smoking during illness or before surgery, exactly when low oxygen is most likely.
Why it matters
Low blood oxygen is a common medical complication, and nicotine withdrawal is common in hospitalized patients who stop smoking during illness or before surgery. If withdrawal weakens the body's reflex increase in breathing during hypoxia, these patients may be at added risk, and identifying the responsible cells and receptors could inform how clinicians manage nicotine abstinence around hospitalization.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Brian Ruyle
Washington University in St Louis, MO·Neuroscience·Early-career
Determine whether fentanyl acts before or after the synapse in the nucleus of the solitary tract, using a new transgenic MOR-Cre rat line with chemogenetics, optogenetics and fiber photometry to manipulate and record mu-opioid-receptor-expressing cells.
Sabhya Rana
Ohio State University, OH·Neuroscience·Early-career
Develop an effective transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation protocol that increases phrenic nerve activation after cervical spinal cord injury in rats, using controlled neurophysiological nerve recordings.
Stephan Lammel
University of California-Berkeley, CA·Neuroscience
Test whether neurotensin signaling in the pathway from the lateral nucleus accumbens to the VTA drives hedonic feeding in mice, using optogenetics, NTS receptor blockers and a new neurotensin sensor that measures release in vitro and in vivo.
The school
University of Oregon: 14 labs on PI Pages, $175M a year on research, 219 research doctorates a year.
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