WILLIAM R. CROWLEY
William Crowley
email: william.crowley@deans.pharm.utah.edu		 Professor and Chair of Pharmacology and Toxicology

Brain and Behavior

B.S. 1970, University of Connecticut; M.S. 1972, Villanova University; Ph.D. 1976, Rutgers University.

RESEARCH:

Neuroendrocrine and neurochemical factors that regulate the secretion of anterior and posterior pituitary hormones

My laboratory investigates the neuroendocrine and neurochemical factors that regulate the secretion of anterior and posterior pituitary hormones. In particular, we have focused on identifying and characterizing the actions of brain neurotransmitters and peptides that participate in the regulation of the secretion of luteinizing hormone, the anterior pituitary hormone responsible for ovulation, and prolactin, the anterior pituitary hormone that controls milk secretion in lactation. Multidisciplinary approaches are used in these investigations, including in vivo microdialysis to study release of brain neurotransmitters and peptides in discrete brain areas, biochemical measurements of neurotransmitters and peptides, measurements of expression of specific messenger RNAs involved in neurotransmitter and peptide transmission, neurotransmitter and peptide receptor binding, and various approaches towards studying signal transduction mechanisms. Studies are done in whole animal and in isolated brain tissues and cell culture. Current studies are focused on the actions of neuropeptide tyrosine (neuropeptide Y), which plays a central role in controlling the release of these hormones and in regulating food intake during lactation.

A second line of investigations employs all of these methods to identify and study actions of the neurotransmitter and peptide systems that control the secretion of the neurohypophyseal hormones, oxytocin, which is important for milk release during lactation, and vasopressin, which participates in control of body fluid homeostasis. This work is now focussing on the actions of ovarian hormones on brain transmiters, particularly norepienphrine, glutamate and y-aminobutyric acid, and peptides in late pregnancy that increase the activity of the oxytocin neurosecretory system in preparation for birth and lactation.

Selected Publications

Lipshitz, D. L., Crowley, W. R., and Bealer, S. L. (2004) Enhanced oxytocin release to central noradrenergic stimulation during late gestation in rats. American Journal of Physiology; Endocrinology and Metabolism, in press; Epub May 18.

Everson, C. A., and Crowley, W. R. (2004) Reductions in circulating anabolic hormones induced by sustained sleep deprivation in rats. American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism, 286:E1060-E1070.

Crowley, W. R., Ramoz, G., Torto, R., and Kalra, S. P. (2004) Role of leptin in orexigenic neuropeptide expression during lactation in rats. Journal of Neuroendocrinology, 16:637-644.Ê

Crowley, W. R. (2004) Neuroendocrine actions of neuropeptide Y (NPY). In: Neuropeptide Y and Related Peptides. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology. M.C. Michel (ed). Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, pp. 185-220.

Lipshitz, D. L., Crowley, W. R., and Bealer, S. L. (2003) Central blockade of oxytocin receptors during late gestation disrupts systemic release of oxytocin during suckling in rats. Journal of Neuroendocrinology, 15:743-748.Ê

Crowley, W. R., Ramoz, G., and Hurst, B. (2003) Evidence for the involvement of neuropeptide Y and melanocortin systems in the hyperphagia of lactation in rats. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 74:417-424.Ê

Bealer, S. L., and Crowley, W. R. (2003) Angiotensin II-induced release of oxytocin: Interaction with norepinephrine and role in lactation. Regulatory Peptides, 111:41-46.

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