Dr. Bill Griffith

Full Professor

Medical Pharmacology & Toxicology
Texas A&M Health Science Center
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843

Office: Joe Reynolds Medical Building
e-mail: whgriff@tamu.edu
Phone: (979) 845-2897
Fax: (979)845-0699
Web: http://medicine.tamu.edu/pharm/Griffith.htm

Research Interests

Over the past several years, my lab has described age-related changes in ligand-gated, voltage-gated calcium channels and calcium homeostasis in basal forebrain neurons. These neurons are involved in attention, arousal, as well as some forms of memory. The basal forebrain may also have relevance to the clinical symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease in humans. Our long-term goal is to identify the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for age-related changes in cellular function. We utilize a rodent model of aging coupled with a variety of techniques including, patch-clamp electrophysiology, microfluorimetric measurements of intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i), laser scanning confocal fluorescent microscopy, and single-cell reverse transcription/polymerase chain reaction (scRT-PCR). Our results support a model in which basal forebrain neurons modify their physiological properties during aging, and specific mechanisms of Ca2+ homeostasis are changed to compensatory for age-related deterioration. The elucidation of these compensatory mechanisms may be important sites for future therapeutics design to alleviate age-related pathologies.

Education

Ph.D., Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, 1980
Research Associate, Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, University of London.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Neurology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas

Recent Publications

Dove, L.S., Abbott, L.C. and Griffith, W.H. (1998) Whole-cell and single channel analysis of P-type calcium currents in cerebellar Purkinje cells of leaner mutant mice J. Neuroscience 18:7687-7699.

Murchison, D. and Griffith, W.H. (1999) Age-related alterations in caffeine-sensitive calcium stores and mitochondrial buffering in rat basal forebrain. Cell Calcium 25:439-452.

Gallagher, J. P., Shinnick-Gallagher, P. and W.H. Griffith. (2000) Cellular pharmacology at synapses within the septal complex. In: The Behavioral Neuroscience of the Septal Region. Ed. Robert Numan. Springer-Verlag. pp.48-70.

Murchison, D. and Griffith, W.H. (2000) Mitochondria buffer nontoxic calcium loads and release calcium through the mitochondria permeability transition pore and sodium/calcium exchanger in rat basal forebrain neurons. Brain Research854:139-151.

Dove, L.S., Nahm, S-S., Murchison, D, Abbott, L.C. and Griffith, W.H. (2000) Altered calcium homeostasis in cerebellar purkinje cells of leaner mutant mice. J. Neurophysiol. 84:513-524.

Griffith, W.H., Jasek, M.C., Bain, S.H. and Murchison, D. (2000) Modification of ion channels and calcium homeostasis of basal forebrain neurons during aging. Behavioral Brain Res. 115:219-233.

Han, S-H., McCool, B.A., Murchison, D., Nahm, S-S., Parrish, A.R. and Griffith, W.H. (2002) Single-cell RT-PCR detects shifts in mRNA expression profiles of basal forebrain neurons during aging.  Brain Research 98:67-80.

Griffith, W.H.  (2002)  Commentary: Quest for ion channel modulation by free radicals during brain aging.  Neurobiology of Aging 23:835-836

Murchison, D., Dove, L.S., Abbott, L.C., and Griffith, W.H. (2002) Homeostatic compensation maintains Ca2+ signaling function in Purkinje neurons in the leaner mutant mouse.  The Cerebellum 1:119-127.

Murchison D, Zawieja DC , Griffith WH. Changes in mitochondrial function affect calcium homeostasis in aged rat basal forebrain neurons. Cell Calcium (in press)

Han S-H, Murchison D, Griffith WH. Low voltage-activated calcium currents and fast tetrodotoxin-resistant sodium currents identify cholinergic and noncholinergic cell types of the rat basal forebrain. Submitted.

Current Grants

NIH/National Institute of Aging, RO1,(PI) Physiology of Cholinergic Basal Forebrain Neurons, 10/01/03-09/31/08, $1,455,000.

Link to Vita

Click here for a PDF copy of my NIH Biosketch *