Thomas
F. Murray
Professor
of Physiology and Pharmacology
Distinguished
Research Professor 2001
Thomas F. Murray has pioneered the use of molecular pharmacologic
approaches in understanding the physiological roles of adenosine
and the mechanisms of drugs. His achievements have opened important
and promising new areas of research that he is using to develop
novel strategies for treating seizure disorders and drug abuse.
Dr Murray has made many important contributions to the understanding
of the functions of extracellular adenosine in the brain. His
laboratory was the first to demonstrate an upregulation of brain
A1 adenosine receptors following chronic treatment
with antagonists such as theophylline and caffeine. He also found
that adenosine agonists raise seizure threshold. He later showed
that there was a temporal correlation between A1 adenosine
receptor upregulation and seizure susceptibility, and that inhibition
of adenosine kinase had anticonvulsant effects in the rat cerebral
cortex. This finding is the bases of developing adenosine kinase
inhibitors as possible anticonvulsant drugs to treat epilepsy
in humans. Dr. Murray has also contributed to understanding the
mechanism of the anesthetic phencyclidine, which is a cause of
drug abuse in some humans.
Source: 22nd Annual Research Awards Program (2001)
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