Dr Victoria McAneany from the RSCI, Dublin will deliver a seminar on her research entitled "Rapid Actions of Aldosterone in the Renal Cortical Collecting Duct -From Receptor to Effector”
Mr Andrew de Faoite
Position
Graduate Student
Email Address
Andrew.deFaoite@dkit.ie
Address
Room 0
Smooth Muscle Research Centre
Dundalk Institute of Technology
Dundalk
Co. Louth
Ireland
Lab Telephone
00353429370509
Office Telephone
00353429370509
| Research Interests |
| I am currently in my second year as a Ph.D student and my study is mainly focused on examining spopntaneous electrical activity in rabbit urethral smooth muscle. Specialised pacemaking cells (ICC) present in urethral smooth muscle generate this tone by production of large slow-waves giving rise to spontaneous activity in the muscle (contraction and relaxation of muscle).My study hopes to examine the hypothesis that spontaneous activity is modulated in a frequency dependent manner by neurotransmitters using intracellular recordings techniques. It is hoped that excitatory neurotransmitters (Acetylcholine) will elevate the frequency of spontaneous electrical events and increase the tone, whereas inhibitory neurotransmitters (Nitric Oxide) will decrease the tone.Initial experiments have involved Nitric Oxide, an endogenous activator of the soluble guanylate cyclase, leading on to the formation of cyclic GMP (cGMP), which functions as a second messenger in many cells including nerves and smooth muscle. A series of experiments are still being carried relating to the different pathways associated with cGMP.As the above experiments deal with inhibitory innervation of urethra future studies will involve excitatory innervation (e.g noradrenaline and carbachol). Preliminary experiments have yielded some good results but most of my time has been focused on the effects of NO etc.I also aim to carry out direct nerve stimulation on the tissue by applying trains of impulses via bath electrodes. |
| Publications |
| Ward SM, Dixon RE, de Faoite A, Sanders KM. Voltage-dependent calcium entry underlies propagation of slow waves in canine gastric antrum. J Physiol. 2004 Dec 15;561(Pt 3):793-810. Epub 2004 Oct 21. Ward SM, Baker SA, de Faoite A, Sanders KM. Propagation of slow waves requires IP3 receptors and mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake in canine colonic muscles. J Physiol. 2003 May 15;549(Pt 1):207-18. Epub 2003 Mar 28. |
| Grant Income |
| Funded by the Medical Research Council |