Herm Lehman, chair and associate professor of biology, has published a chapter titled “The Cellular and Molecular Biology of Octopaminergic Neurons” in Biogenic Amines: Pharmacological, Neurochemical and Molecular Aspects in the CNS, edited by Tahira Farooqui and Akhlaq A. Farooqui (Nova Science Publishers, 2010).
Changes in biogenic amines (including dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine) can have a profound effect on nervous system function and animal behavior. In this chapter, Lehman provides a comprehensive analysis of the enzymes, substrates, cofactors, and transporters that influence the synthesis of an invertebrate biogenic amine, octopamine, and predicts that the availability of vitamin C regulates octopamine levels in the insect nervous system. Ben Weissman '10 and Sven Omen '10, two senior project students in the Lehman lab, are currently examining this prediction, and their studies promise to reveal novel actions of Vitamin C in the nervous system.
Changes in biogenic amines (including dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine) can have a profound effect on nervous system function and animal behavior. In this chapter, Lehman provides a comprehensive analysis of the enzymes, substrates, cofactors, and transporters that influence the synthesis of an invertebrate biogenic amine, octopamine, and predicts that the availability of vitamin C regulates octopamine levels in the insect nervous system. Ben Weissman '10 and Sven Omen '10, two senior project students in the Lehman lab, are currently examining this prediction, and their studies promise to reveal novel actions of Vitamin C in the nervous system.
