John Woodward, Ph.D.

Professor Department of Physiology & Neuroscience,
Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC.

Phone: (843) 792-5225
Fax: (843) 792-7353
Email: woodward@musc.edu

Education:

BS; 1977 Texas A&M University; MS; 1979;
PhD; 1982 University of Washington

Research Interests:

Research in Dr. Woodward's lab is focused on understanding the actions of alcohol and abused volatile solvents such as toluene on brain ion channels. These ion channels regulate the excitability of neurons and are responsible for converting the chemical signal of a neurotransmitter into an electrical one. Alcohol and volatile solvents such as toluene alter the function of neuronal ion channels in distinct and often very selective ways. Our work has shown that many factors can influence
whether a particular ion channel will be affected by these compounds. These include the subunit makeup of the receptor, the interaction of cytoskeletal proteins with certain ion channels and the state of phosphorylation of the channel.

The techniques that we use to study the effects of alcohol and volatile solvents on ion channel function include the use of both recombinant and native receptor reparations combined with electrophysiology. These include two-electrode voltage-clamp in
oocytes, patch-clamp electrophysiology in transfected HEK cells and cultured neurons, and slice-patch recording in visually identified neurons contained in brain slices.

Selected Recent Publications:

Smothers, C.T., Clayton, R., Blevins, T. and Woodward, J.J. Ethanol sensitivity of recombinant human N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors. Neurochemistry International 38(4):333-340, 2001.

Bale, A.S., Smothers, C.T. and Woodward, J.J. Inhibition of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors by the abused solvent, toluene. British Journal of Pharmacology 137(3):375-383, 2002.

Khaldi, A., Chiueh, C.C., Bullock, M.R. and Woodward, J.J. The significance of nitric oxide production in the brain after injury. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 962:53-59, 2002.

Tillar, R., Shafer, T.J. and Woodward, J.J. Toluene inhibits voltage-sensitive calcium channels expressed in pheochromocytoma cells. Neurochemistry International 41(6):391-397, 2002.

Woodward, J.J. Prostacyclin-induced rundown of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor currents in HEK293 cells is protein kinase A-dependent and NR2 subunit-selective. Journal of Neurochemistry 80(4):598-604, 2002.

Woodward, J.J. The pharmacology of alcohol. In Principles of Addiction Medicine 3rd Edition , (Graham, A.W., Schultz, T.K., Mayo-Smith, M.F., Ries, R.K., Wilford, B.B., Eds). American Society of Addiction Medicine, 2003.