Professor
(Memorial University of Newfoundland)

Phone: 780-492-4990
Fax: 780-492-0450
Email: teresa.krukoff@ualberta.ca

Research Interests

Physiological and Cellular Effects of Estrogen on Nitric Oxide Production in the Brain

The results of recent clinical trials by the Women’s Health Initiative showed that estrogen replacement therapy in aging women is associated with significant health risks. These studies revealed the need for a better understanding of estrogen’s effects, not only in aging women, but on female and male physiology in general. We have shown that estrogen replacement in ovariectomized female rats attenuates blood pressure responses to psychological stress and that the non-conventional neurotransmitter, nitric oxide (NO), mediates these effects in the brain. We are using whole animal and tissue culture approaches (hypothalamic slice cultures, primary neuron cultures, and cell lines) to understand the physiological, cellular, and molecular mechanisms for estrogen’s central effects on blood pressure and the NO system.

Selected Publications

Xia, Y., Xing, J.Z., and Krukoff, T.L. (2009) Neuroprotective effects of R,R-tetrahydrochrysene against glutamate-induced cell death through anti-excitotoxic and antioxidant actions involving estrogen receptor-dependent and -independent pathways. Neuroscience 162: 292-306.

Gingerich, S. and Krukoff, T.L. (2008) Activation of ERβ increases levels of phosphorylated nNOS and NO production through a Src/PI3K/Akt-dependent pathway in hypothalamic neurons. Neuropharmacology 55: 878-885.

Geambasu, A. and Krukoff, T.L. (2008) Adrenomedullin acts in the lateral parabrachial nucleus to increase arterial blood pressure through mechanisms mediated by glutamate and nitric oxide. Amer. J. Physiol. 295: R38-R44.

Xu. Y. and Krukoff, T.L. (2007) Adrenomedullin stimulates nitric oxide production from primary rat hypothalamic neurons: roles of calcium and phosphatases. Molec. Pharmacology 72: 112-120.

Gingerich, S. and Krukoff, T.L. (2006) Estrogen in the paraventricular  nucleus attenuates L-glutamate-induced increases in mean arterial pressure through estrogen receptor β and NO. Hypertension 48: 1130-1136.  

Xia, Y., Yamagata, K., and Krukoff T.L. (2006) Differential expression of the CD14/TLR4 complex and inflammatory signaling molecules following i.c.v. adminstration of LPS. Brain Res. 1095: 85- 95.

Xu, Y. and Krukoff, T.L. (2006) Adrenomedullin in the rostral ventrolateral medulla inhibits baroreflex control of heart rate: a role for protein kinase A.  Br. J. Pharmacol. 148: 70-77.

Gingerich, S. and Krukoff. T.L. (2005) Estrogen modulates eNOS and nNOS expression via an ERβ-dependent mechanism in hypothalamic slices. Endocrinology: 146: 2933-2941.

Xia, Y. and Krukoff, T.L. (2004) Estrogen induces nitric oxide production via activation of constitutive nitric oxide synthases in human neuroblastoma cells. Endocrinology 145: 4550-4557.

Cherney, A., Edgell, H. and Krukoff, T.L. (2003) Nitric oxide mediates effects of estrogen on central regulation of blood pressure in restrained, ovariectomized rats.  Amer. J. Physiol. 285: R842-R849.