Research Profile - College of Medicine and Health Science - United ...

Department of Anatomy
Research Profile
Academic staff in the Department of Anatomy
pursue research interests in a number of
directions. We show considerable strength in the
fields of neurobiology, stem cells, cancer, diabetes,
and structure/function relations.
Research by
Eric Mensah-Brown has continued to be focused on the
mechanisms underlying autoimmune type 1 disease and the
role of microglia in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE).
Together wih collaborators in the Medical Microbiology and
Immunology Department, we have shown that different
mechanisms regulate autoimmunity in C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice.
Using the multiple low dose streptozotocin model and
cyclophosphamide, we have shown that whileT regulatory cells
prevent disease in C57BL6 mice, they are completely ineffective
in controlling diabetogenesis in BALB/C mice which seem to be
controlled by the ST2/IL-33 paradigm of disease. The latter was
demonstrated by showing that diabetes developed in normally
resistant BALB/c mice after deletion of the ST2 gene. We have also
demonstrated in rats that macrophages and dendritic cells, but
not microglia, are antigen presenting cells in EAE. We contend that
microglia remain as protective cells in the central nervous system.
Professor & Chair:
Prof G Buzzell
Professor:
Prof E Adeghate
Prof S Karam
Prof DE Lorke
Associate Professor:
Dr E Mensah-Brown
Dr S Shehab
Medical Research
Specialist:
Mr RS Hameed
Dr RR John
Ms A Rifaat
Mr S Singh
Mr S Tariq
Mr W Wanniarachi
MedicalResearch
Technician:
Mr M Madathil
Secretary:
Ms L Ravindranathan
Office Assistant:
Mr TV Basheer
Micrographs showing immunoreactivity to dendritic cells 14 days after disease
induction in DA rats (Grade 3 disease) (a) and their absence in AO rats (b), which do
not develop EAE.