email: Ed.Dudek@hsc.utah.edu

Professor of Physiology Neurobiology of Disease Cellular Neuroscience Brain and Behavior

B.S. 1969, University of California, Irvine; Ph.D. 1973, University of California, Irvine.

RESEARCH:

We are investigating the mechanisms by which electrical signals are transmitted between neurons in the mammalian brain. We are particularly interested in local neuronal interactions, which are critical for information processing. Most of our work involves the hippocampus, and is aimed at the cellular basis of epilepsy. We use a wide range of methods, with an emphasis on anatomical and electrophysiological techniques in the brain slice preparation and in freely behaving animals.

Our laboratory has studied synaptic and non-synaptic mechanisms of neuronal communication under normal conditions and in animal models of epilepsy. We have examined recurrent excitatory circuits mediated by chemical synapses, electrotonic coupling through gap junctions, and electrical field effects. Particular emphasis has been on the mechanisms that synchronize neurons during seizure activity. We have been studying these physiological processes in the kainate-treated rat, an animal model of acquired epilepsy (i.e., injury-induced epilepsy). More recently, we have also been using other animal models of epilepsy, including those arising from hypoxia-ischemia. Our goal is to understand the mechanisms that underlie acute and chronic seizure generation, so that we can develop new methods to stop epileptic seizures.

Selected Publications

Williams, P.A., and Dudek, F.E. (2007) A chronic histopathological and electrophysiological analysis of a rodent hypoxic-ischemic brain injury model and its use as a model of epilepsy. Neuroscience, 149:943-961.

Kadam, S., and Dudek, F.E. (2007) Neuropathological features of a rat model for perinatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy with associated epilepsy. J. Comp. Neurol., 505:716-737.

Williams, P., White, A., Ferraro, D., Clark, S., Staley, K., and Dudek, F.E. (2006) The use of radiotelemetry to evaluate electrographic seizures in rats with kainate-induced epilepsy. J. Neurosci. Methods, 155:39-48.

Kononenko, N.I., and Dudek, F.E. (2006) Persistent calcium current in rat suprachiasmatic nucleus neurons. Neuroscience, 138:377-388.

White, A.M., Williams, P.A., Ferraro, D.J., Clark, S., Kadam, S.D., Dudek, F.E., and Staley, K.J. (2006) Efficient unsupervised algorithms for the detection of seizures in continuous EEG recordings from rats after brain injury. J. Neurosci. Methods, 152:255-266.

Shao, L.R., and Dudek, F.E. (2005) Detection of increased local excitatory circuits in the hippocampus during epileptogenesis using focal flash photolysis of caged glutamate. Epilepsia, 5:100-106.

Kuehl-Kovarik, M.D., Partin, K.M., Handa, R.J., and Dudek, F.E. (2005) Spike-dependent depolarizing afterpotentials contribute to endogenous bursting in gonadotropin releasing hormone neurons. Neuroscience, 134:295-300.

Shao, L.R., and Dudek, F.E. (2005) Changes in mIPSCs and sIPSCs after kainate treatment: evidence for loss of inhibitory input to dentate granule cells and possible compensatory responses. J. Neurophysiol., 94:952-960.

Kononenko, N.I., and Dudek, F.E. (2005) Noise of the slowly inactivating Na current in suprachiasmatic nucleus neurons. Neuroreport, 16:981-985.

Bramley, J.R., Sollars, P.J., Pickard, G.E., and Dudek, F.E. (2005) 5-HT1B receptor-mediated presynaptic inhibition of GABA release in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. J. Neurophysiol., 93:3157-3164.

Shao, L.R., and Dudek, F.E. (2005) Electrophysiological evidence using focal flash photolysis of caged glutamate that CA1 pyramidal cells receive excitatory synaptic input from the subiculum. J. Neurophysiol. 93:3007-3011.

Grabenstatter, H.L., Ferraro, D.J., Williams, P.A., Chapman, P.L., and Dudek, F.E. (2005) Use of chronic epilepsy models in antiepileptic drug discovery: the effect of topiramate on spontaneous motor seizures in rats with kainate-induced epilepsy. Epilepsia 46:8-14.

Kononenko, N.I., Medina I., and Dudek, F.E. (2004) Persistent subthreshold voltage-dependent cation single channels in suprachiasmatic nucleus neurons. Neuroscience, 129:85-92.

Williams, P.A., Dou, P., and Dudek, F.E. (2004) Epilepsy and synaptic reorganization in a perinatal rat model of hypoxia-ischemia. Epilepsia, 45:1210-1218.

Kononenko, N.I., and Dudek, F.E. (2004) Mechanism of irregular firing of suprachiasmatic nucleus neurons in rat hypothalamic slices. J Neurophysiol, 91:267-273.

Shao, L.-R., and Dudek, F.E. (2004) Increased excitatory synaptic activity and local connectivity of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells in rats with kainate-induced epilepsy. J Neurophysiol, 92:1366-1373.

Gribkoff, V.K., Pieschl, R.L., and Dudek, F.E. (2003) GABA receptor-mediated effects on neuronal activity in rat SCN in vitro: Pharmacology and effects of circadian phase. J Neurophysiol, 90:1438-1448.

Kuehl-Kovarik, M.C., Pouliot, W.A., Halterman, G.L., Handa, R.J., Dudek, F.E., and Partin, K.M. (2002) Episodic bursting activity and response to excitatory amino acids in acutely dissociated gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons genetically targeted with green fluorescent protein (GFP). J Neurosci, 15:2313-2322.

Smith, B.N., Dudek, F.E. (2002) Network interactions mediated by new excitatory connections between CA1 pyramidal cells in rats with kainate-induced epilepsy. J Neurophysiol, 87:1651-1654.

Dudek, F.E., Hellier, J.L., Williams, P.A., Ferraro, D.J., and Staley, K.J. (2002) The course of cellular alterations associated with the development of spontaneous seizures after status epilepticus. In: Do Seizures Damage the Brain? (Sutula T, Pitkanen A, eds), Elsevier Science, Amsterdam 135:53-65.

Wuarin, J.P., and Dudek, F.E. (2001) Excitatory synaptic input to granule cells increases with time after kainate treatment. J Neurophysiol, 85:1067-1077.

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