March 2, 2007                                                

SIU Med School Receives National Grant to Study the Effects of

Nicotine

A research scientist at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield has been awarded a two-year federal grant from the National Institute of Health to study the effect of nicotine on the function of histamine in the brain.  Total budget for the grant is $345,586.

The study will look at histaminergic tuberomammillary neurons which are responsible for regulating the release of histamine in the brain.  The behavioral effects of nicotine and histamine are similar in that they both improve attention, promote alertness and arousal, and inhibit food intake.  Dysfunction of the histamine system is implicated in a number of neurologic disorders.  This research may lead to the development of new treatments for neurological disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, narcolepsy, insomnia and nicotine addition.

Victor V. Uteshev, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology, is the principal investigator for the project.  This is the first federal grant awarded for his research, which is focused on understanding the mechanisms that regulate neuronal function and signaling under physiological conditions and how they are changed by using chemical compounds.

Uteshev joined SIU's faculty in 2006.  He earned his doctoral degree in physiology from the University of Toronto in Canada (1997).  He earned his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in Russia (1989, 1987). 

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