Gabor Legradi, M.D.
Assistant Professor

Department of Pathology and Cell Biology and Cell Biology
MDC 0011, University of South Florida
12901 Bruce B. Downs Blvd.
Tampa, Fl.  33612
Phone: (813) 974-595

Gabor Legradi

Year Appointed: 2002

Site/Affiliation:
Neuroscience Signature Research Program
School of Basic Biomedical Sciences

Research/Interest:
My research is in the fields of Neuroanatomy, Neuropharmacology and Behavioral Neuroscience. Our laboratory is interested in neuropeptides and their interactions with classical neurotransmitters in the brain's response to stress. We focus on role of pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) in the regulation of the neuroendocrine stress response by identifying the participation of PACAP in stress-induced activation of hypophysiotropic corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) neurons and describing PACAPergic neural pathways to CRH neurons. We also aim to determine whether PACAP, at specific brain sites, may mediate stress-induced behavioral manifestations. So far we have identified a major role for PACAP in the anxiogenic response evoked from the central nucleus of the amygdala. Our long-term goal is to characterize mechanisms that may underlie stress-related disorders such as depression and panic and anxiety syndromes

Expertise:
Electron Microscopy
Digital Imaging

Memberships:
Society for Neuroscience
Endocrine Society

Previous Positions:
2002 Assistant Professor of Medicine, Tufts-New England Medical Center
1998-2002    Instructor of Medicine, Tufts New England Medical Center
1994-1998 Postdoctoral Fellow, Tufts-New England Medical Center
1991-1994 Research Instructor, Tulane University Medical Center
1989-1991 Research Fellow, Semmelweis University- Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Publications:

1. Nillni, E.A., A. Lee, G. Legradi, and R.M. Lechan, Effect of precipitated morphine withdrawal on post-translational processing of prothyrotropin releasing hormone (proTRH) in the ventrolateral column of the midbrain periaqueductal gray. J Neurochem, 2002. 80(5): p. 874-84.
2. Sarkar, S., G. Legradi, and R.M. Lechan, Intracerebroventricular administration of alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone increases phosphorylation of CREB in TRH- and CRH-producing neurons of the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus. Brain Res, 2002. 945(1): p. 50-9.
3. Sarkar S, Fekete C, Legradi G, Lechan RM. Glucagon like peptide-1 (7-36) amide (GLP-1) nerve terminals densely innervate corticotropin-releasing hormone neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus. Brain Res 985 (2): 163-8, 2003.
4. Agarwal A, Halvorson LM, Legradi G. Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide (PACAP) Mimics Neuroendocrine and Behavioral Manifestations of Stress: Evidence for PKA Mediated Expression of the Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone (CRH) Gene. Mol. Brain Res. 138:45-57, 2005.
5. Norrholm SD, Das M, Legradi G. Behavioral Effects of Local Microinfusion of Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide (PACAP) into the Paraventricular Nucleus of the Hypothalamus (PVN). Regul. Pept. 128:33-41, 2005
6. Das M, Vihlen CS, Legradi G. Hypothalamic and brainstem sources of pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) nerve fibers innervating the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) in the rat. J. Comp. Neurol, accepted for publication