Pesticide Induced Hypoxia in PND1 Rats

This hypothesis addresses the concept of significant neurologic effects in post- natal day 1 (PND1) rats following both intraperitoneal (ip) and subcutaneous (sc) injections of chlorpyrifos. Brain tissues and cells are of a specialized sort, and thus other tissues cannot be used as competent substitutes. The metabolic processes performed within the cells and tissues are the contributory processes to chlorpyrifos-induced damage, and thus “in-vitro” methods are ineffective in determining the extent of the damage resulting from chlorpyrifos-induced bradycardia &/or bradycardia-induced hypoxia. Reduced heart rate produces reduced blood flow to the brain reducing oxygen supply, nutrient supply, and waste clearance, and if the blood flow is sufficiently low can result in neurologic defects during this period of time when the nervous system is rapidly developing. Since a PND1 rat is equivalent to a 3rd trimester human in utero in terms of development, a reduction in blood flow to the brain for even a short time could conceivably result in adverse effects in the developing brain.

Pharmacological Modulation of Chemical Induced Organ Toxicity

Some substances can cause significant organ damage with only a single dose. They cause an enzyme known as PARP to be overproduced which can injure organ tissues and cells. PARP inhibitors may stop this organ damage by stopping PARP production. This study is to determine if PARP inhibitors will prevent liver and/or cardiac damage by blocking PARP produced by a single dose of these substances.

The effects of ICA-1 on prostate/breast cancer xenografts

PKC-i is an enzyme associated with tumorigenesis. ICA-1 is a novel compound that inhibits PKC-i. ICA-1 has been shown to decrease tumor growth in mice. Before ICA-1 can be developed into an antitumor therapy, the toxicity in model species must be assessed. This study will use control mice (no xenograft) and experimental mice (xenograft) to determine the acute, local and systemic toxicity. Acute toxicity studies will be followed with 28 day repeated dose studies and a 90 day chronic toxicity study.

Passive Transfer of Environmental Contaminants to Breast milk

This pilot study will determine the concentrations of multiple environmental contaminants including environmental phenols, phthalate acid esters, monohydroxylated metabolites of PAHs, pyrethroids, herbicides and organophosphorus metabolites in the breast milk of donors to assess potential lactational transfer to nursing infants. This may provide justification to establish a biomonitoring program in Florida designed to identify ‘hotzones’ – regions of elevated pesticide residues in breastmilk that may adversely impact nursing infants.

Passive Transfer of Environmental Contaminants via Dust

Phthalates are compounds that act on the endocrine system and alter the molecular pathways through which they exert their effects. Phthalates are semi volatile organic compounds with a ubiquitous environmental distribution because of their use as plasticizers in plastics, as solvents/carriers in many products. Dust sampling and wipe sampling will be done from each of the rooms in which the children spent time. De-identified data regarding children’s behavior will be collected from the day care centers through the ASQ questionnaire. The samples will be analyzed using methods outlined by guo and kannan (Guo and Kannan, 2011). Phthalate concentrations in dust may vary considerably depending on the amount of phthalate present in the environment at the day care centers. The concentrations per room depend on the number of substances that contain phthalates, room area, how long the phthalate containing substance was present in the room. The amount of exposure to the children based on the dust phthalate concentrations and the excretion rate by the body determine the amount retained.

Opioids and other drugs of abuse 

Long Range Effects of Sea Level Rise and Climate Change in Hillsborough County 

Preparing the county for 2050 and 2100 (Peril of Flood and SLR)

Toxicity of Commonly Used Opioid Substitutes

We are studying Kratom, a plant product which is sold as an herbal supplement, displays opioid-like effects, and is being used recreationally. Previous Kratom research indicates the presence of several alkaloid compounds, including two main compounds with opioid activity: mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine. Our research group aims to collect samples of Kratom products sold in the area surrounding the University of South Florida. We will quantify and compare the amounts of the two main opioid compounds in the product to the amounts commonly reported in the Kratom leaves. We will also be testing our samples for heavy metals as the Federal Drug Administration has reported heavy metal contamination of Kratom products.

Toxicity assessment (acute and chronic) of Kratom to evaluate whether the possibility exists for an increase in the incidence of an adverse health effect (e.g., cancer, birth defect) resulting from human exposure.