Gary W. Boehm |
![[picture]](boehm.jpg) |
My research focuses on ways in which the brain and the immune system are influenced by each other, sometimes in adaptive ways, other times in maladaptive ways. Not only am I interested in how stress impacts immune function, but also in how peripheral immune responses to pathogens may alter the brain and behavior. The communication pathways between the brain and the immune system are clearly bidirectional. I am also interested in how events occurring during prenatal/neonatal development may trigger long-lasting changes in behavior and neural organization in rodents. This interest began as a graduate student when our lab and collaborators worked on a rodent model of developmental learning disability, in which autoimmune-disordered mice exhibited misplaced clusters of neurons in layer I of neocortex ("ectopias") that corresponded with altered learning and memory in affected adult animals. Postdoctoral work at the University of Rochester allowed me to examine the interrelated nature of nervous system and immune system in a variety of ways. My research at TCU currently explores, among other things, the effects of bacterial endotoxin or elevated levels of proinflammatory cytokines (low molecular weight signaling proteins primarily released by cells of the immune system) on learning and other behaviors, and how brief perinatal exposure to unusual levels of cytokines may permanently alter neural development and measures of learning and memory in adulthood.
Selected Publications:
Kohman, R. A., Tarr, A. J., Sparkman, N. L., Day, C. E., Paquet, A., Akkaraju, G. R., and Boehm, G. W. (2007). Alleviation of effects of endotoxin exposure on behavior and hippocampal IL-1beta by a selective non-peptide antagonist of corticotropin-releasing factor receptors. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 21: 824-835.
Sparkman, N. L., Kohman, R. A., Garcia, A. K., and Boehm, G. W. (2005). Peripheral lipopolysaccharide administration impairs two-way active avoidance conditioning in C57BL/6J mice. Physiology & Behavior, 85: 278-288.
Rice, P. A., Boehm, G. W., Moynihan, J. A., Bellinger, D. L., and Stevens, S.Y (2001). Chemical sympathectomy increases the innate immune response and decreases the specific immune response in the spleen to infection with Listeria monocytogenes. Journal of Neuroimmunology, 114: 19-27.
Boehm, G. W., Sherman, G. F., Hoplight, B. J., Hyde, L. A., Waters, N. S., Bradway, D. M., Galaburda, A. M., and Denenberg, V. H. (1996). Learning and memory in the autoimmune BXSB mouse: effects of neocortical ectopias and environmental enrichment. Brain Research, 726: 11-22.
Boehm, G. W., Sherman, G. F., Rosen, G. D., Galaburda, A. M., and Denenberg, V. H. (1996). Neocortical ectopias in BXSB mice: effects upon reference and working memory systems. Cerebral Cortex, 6: 696-700.