Lotta Granholm-Bentley, D.D.S., Ph.D.

Professor Physiology & Neuroscience,
Director of Center on Aging

Phone: (843) 792-0712
Fax: (843) 792-0679
Email: granholm@musc.edu

Education & Professional History:
Dr. Lotta Granholm-Bentley received her D.D.S/Ph.D. degree at the Department of Histology and Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, in Stockholm, Sweden in 1984-85. She came to the University of Colorado Health Science Center, Department of Pharmacology, as a postdoctoral fellow in the fall of 1985, and stayed there for 3 years.

Thereafter, she has been an Associate Professor at the University of Linköping, Sweden (1988-1991) and at the Department of Basic Science, University of Colorado HSC (1991-1998). She was promoted to Professor with Tenure at Univ. of Colorado HSC in 1998, and was recruited to the Department of Physiology and Neuroscience at MUSC in the fall of 2000.

Dr. Granholm-Bentley wrote her dissertation on the effects of thyroid hormones on brain development and aging, and has had an active interest in age-related topics since the early 1980s. She currently has 4 research grants with the National Institute on Aging, and one with the US Army Neurotoxicology Program.

Dr. Granholm-Bentley has published more than 90 articles in peer-reviewed journals and currently serves as the President for the American Society for Neural

Research Interests:

The focus in my laboratory is on neuroplasticity, both during early development and aging. In particular, we are studying factors that influence development and aging in neurons, such as neurotrophic factors.

We have primarily focussed on trophic factor influence on cholinergic, adrenergic, and dopaminergic pathways in the brain and the neurotrophic factors NGF and GDNF. We are using transplantation of fetal brain tissue and stem cells intracranially and into the anterior chamber of the eye as a means to study connectivity, and also as replacement therapy.  More recently, we have also started working on estrogen/testosterone replacement therapy, as well as dietary supplementation with antioxidants and low-cholesterol diets.

The overall goal of the laboratory is to develop treatment strategies for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease by using growth factors, hormone replacement, or dietary prevention therapies. We are using a systems approach, studying memory and movement behaviors, and correlating these behavioral data with biochemical and structural correlates in the brain. Recently, we have incorporated a translational research approach, with ongoing studies together with clinical laboratories around our campus.

Selected recent Publications:

Hunter CL, Bimonte HA, Granholm A-Ch.  Behavioral comparison of 4 and 6 month-old Ts65Dn mice:  Age-related impairments in working and reference memory. Behav Brain Res 138(2): 121-31, 2003.

Bimonte H.A., Singleton R.S., Nelson M.E., Eckman C.B., Barber J., Scott T.Y., and Granholm A-Ch. (2003) Testosterone, but not non-aromatizable dihydrotestosterone, improves working memory and alters nerve growth factor levels in aged male rats. Exp. Neurology 181: 301-312.

Granholm A-Ch., Sanders L., Seo H., Lin L., Ford K., and Isacson O. (2003) Estrogen alters amyloid precursor protein as well as dendritic and cholinergic markers in a mouse model of Downs syndrome. Hippocampus (in press).

Albeck D, Mesches MH, Juthberg S, Browning M, Bickford PC, Rose GM, Granholm AC.  Exogenous NGF restores endogenous NGF distribution in the brain of the cognitively impaired aged rat.  Behav Brain Res, 967(1-2): 306-10, 2003.

Veng L.M., Granholm A-Ch., and Rose G.M. (2003) Sex differences in spatial learning by Fisher 344 rats: Effects of aging and correlation with cholinergic neuron size in the medial septal nucleus. Physiol. Behavior 80:27-36.

Zaman V., Li J., Middaugh L., Ramamoorthy S., Nelson M., Tomac A., Hoffer B.J., Gerhardt G.A., and Granholm A-Ch. 2003. The noradrenergic system of aged GDNF heterozygous mice. J. Cell Transplantation, 12: 291-303.

Hunter CL, Isacson O, Nelson M, Bimonte-Nelson H, Seo H, Lin L, Ford K, Kindy MS, Granholm A-Ch.  Regional alterations in amyloid precursor protein and nerve growth factor across age in a mouse model of Down's syndrome. Neurosci Res 45(4): 437-45, 2003.