Lena M. O’keefe
Current Organizations / Institutes
The organizations/institutes from the scholar's latest article
Research Subjects
Lena M. O’keefe has a total of 8 co-authors. Here are the top co-authors by number of shared publications:
- Andrey S. Tsvetkov
The University of Texas McGovern Medical School at Houston
1 shared publication - Anita R. Patel
Henry Ford Transplant Institute, Detroit, Michigan, USA
1 shared publication - Anthony Patrizz
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (A.P., A.E.H., M.M., Y.M., L.A., H.A., M.H., F.B., L.D.M., J.L.).
1 shared publication - Jose Felix Moruno-Manchon
Department of Neurology, University of Texas Health Science, Houston, USA
1 shared publication - Jun Li
Department of Neurology, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, TX,77030, USA
1 shared publication - Louise D. McCullough
Department of Neurology, McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, USA
1 shared publication
Latest Publications
- Open Access
Sex-Specific Differences in Autophagic Responses to Experimental Ischemic Stroke
Ischemic stroke triggers a series of complex pathophysiological processes including autophagy. Differential activation of autophagy occurs in neurons derived from males versus females after stressors such as nutrient deprivation. Whether autophagy displays sexual dimorphism after ischemic stroke is unknown. We used a cerebral ischemia mouse model (middle cerebral artery occlusion, MCAO) to evaluate the effects of inhibiting autophagy in ischemic brain pathology. We observed that inhibiting autophagy reduced infarct volume in males and ovariectomized females. However, autophagy inhibition enhanced infarct size in females and in ovariectomized females supplemented with estrogen compared to control mice. We also observed that males had increased levels of Beclin1 and LC3 and decreased levels of pULK1 and p62 at 24 h, while females had decreased levels of Beclin1 and increased levels of ATG7. Furthermore, the levels of autophagy markers were increased under basal conditions and after oxygen and glucose deprivation in male neurons compared with female neurons in vitro. E2 supplementation significantly inhibited autophagy only in male neurons, and was beneficial for cell survival only in female neurons. This study shows that autophagy in the ischemic brain differs between the sexes, and that autophagy regulators have different effects in a sex-dependent manner in neurons.
Open AccessSex-Specific Differences in Autophagic Responses to Experimental Ischemic Stroke
Ischemic stroke triggers a series of complex pathophysiological processes including autophagy. Differential activation of autophagy occurs in neurons derived from males versus females after stressors such as nutrient deprivation. Whether autophagy displays sexual dimorphism after ischemic stroke is unknown. We used a cerebral ischemia mouse model (middle cerebral artery occlusion, MCAO) to evaluate the effects of inhibiting autophagy in ischemic brain pathology. We observed that inhibiting autophagy reduced infarct volume in males and ovariectomized females. However, autophagy inhibition enhanced infarct size in females and in ovariectomized females supplemented with estrogen compared to control mice. We also observed that males had increased levels of Beclin1 and LC3 and decreased levels of pULK1 and p62 at 24 h, while females had decreased levels of Beclin1 and increased levels of ATG7. Furthermore, the levels of autophagy markers were increased under basal conditions and after oxygen and glucose deprivation in male neurons compared with female neurons in vitro. E2 supplementation significantly inhibited autophagy only in male neurons, and was beneficial for cell survival only in female neurons. This study shows that autophagy in the ischemic brain differs between the sexes, and that autophagy regulators have different effects in a sex-dependent manner in neurons.