Golda A. Kevetter-Leonard, Ph.D.
Ø
B.S., Texas Woman’s University, 1973
Ø
Ph.D., University of Michigan, 1978
Ø
Associate Dean for Recruitment and Special
Programs; Graduate School Biomedical
Sciences
Ø Associate Professor, Department of
Otolaryngology and Anatomy & Neurosciences
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Adjunct Member, Marine Biomedical Institute
Ø
Director, Cell Biology Graduate Program
Contact
information:
Phone: 409-772-2722
Fax:
409-772-5893
Email:
galeonar@utmb.edu
Research
Interests:
Research
in my laboratory at The University of Texas Medical
Branch is focused on the morphological substrates of vestibular function.
We are studying vestibular pathways, specifically vestibular sensor input
onto vestibulospinal and vestibulo-ocular neurons, as models of sensory motor
interactions.
The
neurotransmitters and neuromodulators used in these pathways are being
determined. We have focused our
studies thus far on excitatory amino acid transmitters. The receptors that interact with the neurotransmitters,
specifically subtypes of glutamate receptors, are also being identified.
The elucidation of the chemical interactions between neurons will be used
to identify normal neuronal function and the mechanisms for the behavioral
plasticity that occurs following lesions of the vestibular periphery.
Figure Legend: Two vestibular nerve fibers (gerbil 802 and gerbil 812) that innervated the crista ampullaris. The cell bodies, labeled intracellularly with biocytin (green), did not contain calretinin (CR, red), but were also labeled with antibodies for calbindin (CB, red, and thus appeared yellow when the images are superimposed).
Selected Publications:
Kevetter,
GA and Leonard, RB. Use of calcium
binding proteins to map inputs in vestibular nuclei of the gerbil.
J. Comp. Neurol.
386:317-327, 1997.
Kevetter,
GA, Blumberg, KR and Correia, MJ. Hair
cell and supporting cell density and distribution in the normal and regenerating posterior crista ampullaris of the pigeon.
Int. J. Dev. Neurosci. 18:855-867, 2000.
Kevetter, GA,
Leonard, RB. Molecular probes of
vestibular nerve. II. Characterization of neurons in Scarpa’s ganglion to
determine separate populations within the nerve.
Brain Res. 928:18-29, 2002.
Leonard, RB, and Kevetter, GA. Molecular
probes of the vestibular nerve. I. Peripheral termination patterns of calretinin,
calbindin, and peripherin containing fibers. Brain
Res. 928:8-17, 2002.
Newlands,
SD, Purcell, IM, Kevetter, GA, and Perachio, AA.
Central projections of the utricular nerve in the gerbil. J.
Comp. Neurol. 452:11-23, 2002.
Kevetter,
GA, Leonard, RB. Decreased expression of calretinin and calbindin in the
labyrinth of aged gerbils. Brain
Research, In press. 2002.