My laboratory investigates how the nervous system influences the structure and function of the airways. Our previous work has been aimed at elucidating the role of the parasympathetic system in the regulation of the mechanical interdependence between airways and the surrounding lung parenchyma. Specifically, we have analyzed the neuronal mechanisms that facilitate the mechanical coupling of airway tone to the stresses generated during lung breathing. Our physiological and neuroanatomical studies have contributed to our present view of the bronchomotor system as an integral part of the control of breathing by defining the relationships between vagal and phrenic outflows and the overlap between the bronchomotor and breathing networks. More recently, our attention has been focused on the participation of sensory neuropeptides in the regulation of the inflammatory response. Using targeted deletion and transgenic insertions, we have been able to demonstrate a neurokinin-mediated amplification mechanism in the airways. This mechanism involves a previously unsuspected synergy between nociceptor fibers and inflammatory cells, both of which appear to release substance P and other neurokinins as part of a well orchestrated response to a variety of injuries.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
autonomic nervous system
airway smooth muscle
neurogenic inflammation
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Chavolla-Calderon, M., M.K. Bayer, and J.J. Perez Fontan, "Bone marrow transplantation reveals an essential synergy between neuronal and hemopoietic cell neurokinin production in pulmonary inflammation." J. Clin. Invest., 111:973-980, 2003
Perez Fontan, J.J. and C.R. Velloff, "Localization of vagal motoneurons and central afferents after application of cholera toxin B-subunit to the airway mucosa" Am. J. Physiol., 280:L152-164, 2001
Perez Fontan, J.J., C.T. Diec, and C.R. Velloff, "Bilateral distribution of vagal motor and sensory nerve fibers in the rat?s lungs and airways" Am. J. Physiol., 279:713-728, 2000
Perez Fontan, J.J., D.N. Cortright, J.E. Krause, C.R. Velloff, V.V. Karpitskyi, T.W. Carver, Jr., S.D. Shapiro, and B.N. Mora, "Substance P and neurokinin-1 receptor expression by intrinsic airway neurons in the rat" Am. J. Physiol., 278:L344-355, 2000
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