CONRAD JOHANSON

Ph.D., University of Kansas Medical School, 1970. Professor of Clinical Neurosciences and Physiology. Director, Cerebrospinal Fluid Laboratories

RI Hospital (Aldrich 401)

Phone: 444-8739

Cerebrospinal fluid and blood-brain barrier; growth factors as neuroprotective agents; choroid plexus transport physiology

The choroid plexus secretes ions, hormones and proteins into the ventricular CSF to provide the brain with an extracellular fluid of stable and specialized composition. Throughout perinatal development, the CSF composition is altered as the chemical needs of the neurons and glia undergo change. We use microphysiological techniques to assess modifications in transport phenomena in the blood-CSF barrier in developing rats. Radioisotopic tracers and pharmacological agents are utilized as tools to elucidate specific ion transport phenomena (antiporters and symporters). Polypeptide modulation and autonomic regulation of CSF secretion are also being analyzed. A better understanding of the transport and permeability characteristics of transport interfaces in the CNS will lead to more effective clinical treatment of disorders like hydrocephalus and cerebral edema.

Publication: Johanson, C.E., J.E. Chodobski, A. Stopa, E.G. Szmydynger-Chodobska, J. and P.N. McMillan. Arginine vasopressin V1-receptor-induced decrease in Cl transport and increase in dark cell frequency in choroid plexus. Am. J. Physiol. (Cell) 276: C82-C90-1999.

Johanson, C.E., Szmydynger-Chodobska, J., Chodobski, A., Baird, A., McMillan, P. and E.G. Stopa. Altered formation and bulk absorption of cerebrospinal fluid in FGF-2-induced hydrocephalus. Am. J. Physiol. (Reg. Integ. Comp.) 277: July, 1999.

Johanson, C.E., Palm, D.E., Primiano, M.J., McMillan, P.N., Chan, P. Knuckey, N.W. and E.G. Stopa. Choroid plexus recovery after transient forebrain ischemia: Role of growth factors and other repair mechanisms. Cellular and Molec. Neurobiol., 20 (2) 195-214, 2000.