Whole body radiation is also used to purge the bone marrow of cells prior to bone marrow transplantation. Both of those procedures have the undesirable side effect of destroying any salivary gland tissue included in the radiation beam. That can result in severe and permanent loss of salivary function with resultant oral health complications due to dry mouth, e.g., difficulty in eating and swallowing, poor nutrition, loss of teeth. This research will use human sub mandibular duct cells in cell culture to examine various molecular parameters associated with radiation-induced changes. It will then use isoproterenol, which is known to protect the salivary gland from radiation damage, in the culture system in an attempt to discern the mechanism of its action.
Ethanol is a significant environmental agent that causes birth defects in humans.
Many clinical studies in humans have delineated neurological and physical manifestations associated with exposure to ethanol during development. The researcher has devised a rapid and reproducible technique for the exposure of zebrafish embryos to known concentrations of ethanol. The zebrafish embryo, being nearly transparent is ideally suited for developmental studies under a variety of experimental conditions. The zebrafish shares close similarities with human genes responsible for regulating early development of the nervous system. The researcher proposes to examine the effects of early exposure of the embryos to ethanol to determine if there is a resultant delay of development, which leads to abnormal development of the central and peripheral nervous systems.