Research Associate Professor (retired)
E-Mail:
lnchurch@vetmed.wsu.edu
Phone: (509) 335-5216
The reason why we sleep is not known. Recent findings suggest that
neuronal activity initiated during the wake state is processed during
sleep in order to scale the synaptic plasticity. Recent studies
demonstrated that sleep regulatory substances applied to the cortex
increase neuronal activation in the corticothalamic projection (Yasuda
et al., 2004; Churchill et al., 2005). Sleep promoting growth factors
that are applied to the somatosensory cortex or injected
intraparitoneally will increase other sleep promoting growth factors as
well as the immediate early gene, fos, within a neuroanatomical network
(Churchill et al., 2005). Currently studies in collaboration with Dr.
Dave Rector are evaluating the responses of the somatosensory evoked
potentials to microinjection of the sleep regulatory substances.
Preliminary data indicate that tumor necrosis factor alpha increases
the evoked potentials while interleukin-1beta decreases these same
responses. Further analyses are necessary to evaluate the mechanisms
that underlie these alterations.
Another route for investigating sleep function is to identify the
immunochemical composition of neurons that respond to neuronal
activation. Whisker stimulation increases the activation the number of
tumor necrosis factor-immunoreactive cells. Preliminary data suggest
that the number of immunoreactive cells with growth hormone releasing
hormone receptor is also increased in the somatosensory cortex activated
by whisker stimulation. Recent preliminary data indicates that
intraperitoneal administration of a sleep-inducing dose of interleukin-1
beta increases the activation of nuclear factor kappa B as well as the
mRNA levels for the cytokine, tumor necrosis factor, within specific
regions of the nucleus tractus solitarius, the brain region that
receives vagal afferents from the gut. Also, an immunochemical marker
for GABAergic neurons has been localized in hypothalamic neurons that
alter their calcium signals in response to cytokines and the growth
hormone-releasing hormone. These findings in collaboration with James
Krueger, Alok De and Steve Simasko are the first demonstration of
colocalization of receptors for sleep-promoting factors in GABAergic,
hypothalamic neurons.
Biographical Information
Lynn
Churchill, Research Associate Professor, completed her B.S. in
biophysical science at the University of Houston in 1969 and her Ph.D.
in psychobiology at the University of California, Irvine, in 1973. She
was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at the Medical Center at the University
of Wisconsin, Madison, from 1973-1977, a research scientist at the
University of Texas Health Sciences Center in Houston, and a research
assistant professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas
City. She joined VCAPP in 1987
Selected Recent Publications
Leyva-Grado, V., L. Churchill, M.Wu, T.J. Williams,
P. Taishi, J.A. Majde and J.M. Krueger. Influenza virus- and
cytokine-immunoreactive cells in the murine olfactory and central
autonomic nervous systems before and after illness onset. (2009) J
Neuroimmunol, epub ahead of print.
Taishi, P., L. Churchill, A. De, F. Obal, Jr. and
J.M. Krueger. Cytokine mRNA induction by interleukin1b or tumor
necrosis factor a in vitro and in vivo. (2008) Brain Res 1226: 89-98.
Churchill, L., D. Rector, K. Yasuda, C. Fix, M. Rojas, T. Yasuda and
J.M. Krueger. Tumor necrosis factor alpha: activity dependent
expression and promotion of cortical column sleep in rats. (2008)
Neuroscience 156: 71-80.
Yasuda K, L. Churchill, T. Yasuda, K. Blindheim, M.
Falter and J.M. Krueger. Unilateral cortical applicaiton f interleukin 1
beta (IL-1b) induces asymmetry in Fos and IL-1beta-immunoreactivity in
specific brain regions: implications for sleep regulation. (2007).
Brain Res. 1131: 44-59.
Taishi, P., L. Churchill, M. Wang, D. Kay, C.J.
Davis, X. Guan, A. De, T. Yasuda, F. Liao and J.M. Krueger. TNFalpha
siRNA reduces brain TNF and EEG delta wave activity in rats. (2007)
Brain Res 1156: 125-132.
Majde, J.A., S.G. Bohnet, G.A. Ellis, L. Churchill,
V. Leyva-Grado, M.Wu, E. Szentirmai, A. Rehman and J.M. Krueger.
Detection of mouse-adapted human influenza viruses in the olfactory
bulbs of mice within hours after intranasal infection. (2007) J of
NeuroVirology 13:399-409.
Szentirmai, E., Yasuda, T., Taishi, P., M. Wang, Churchill, L.,
Bohnet, S., McGrath, P., Kacsoh, B., Jimenez, L., and J.M. Krueger.
Growth hormone releasing hormone: Cerebral cortical sleep-related EEG
actions and expression. (2007) Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol
293: R922-R930.
Churchill, L., Taishi, P., M. Wang, J. Brandt, C. Cearley, A. Rehman,
and J.M. Krueger. Brain distribution of cytokine mRNA induced by
systemic administration of interleukin-1beta or tumor necrosis factor
alpha. (2006) Brain Res. 1120:64-73.
Churchill, L., K. Yasuda, T. Yasuda, K. Blindheim, M. Falter, F.
Garcia-Garcia, and J.M. Krueger. Unilateral cortical application of
tumor necrosis factor alpha induces asymmetry in Fos-and Interleukin
1beta-immunoreactive cells within the corticothalamic projection. (2005)
Brain Res. 1055:15-24.
Brandt, J.A., L. Churchill, A. Rehman, G. Ellis, S.
Memet, A. Israel, and J.M. Krueger. Sleep deprivation increases the
activation of Nuclear Factor kappa B in lateral hypothalamic cells.
(2004) Brain Res. 1004: 91-97.
Peterfi, Z., L. Churchill, I. Hajdu, F. Obal Jr.,
J.M. Krueger, and A. Parducz. Fos-immunoreactivity in the hypothalamus:
dependency on the diurnal rhythm, sleep, gender and estroge. (2004)
Neuroscience 124(3): 695-707.
Nelson, S.E., D.L. Duricka, K. Campbell, L. Churchill,
and J.M. Krueger. Home 1a and 1bc levels in the rat somatosensory cortex
vary with the time of day and sleep loss. (2004) Neurosci. Lett. 367:
105-108.
Cearley, C., L. Churchill, and J.M. Krueger. Time
of day differences in IL-1β and TNFα mRNA levels in specific regions of
the rat brain. (2003) Neurosci. Lett 352: 61-63.
De, A., L. Churchill, F. Obl, Jr., S.M. Simasko, and
J.M. Krueger. GHRH and IL1b increase cytoplasmic Ca2+ levels in
cultured hypothalamic GABAergic neurons. (2002) Brain Res. 949:
209-212.
(note: This PubMed search may produce
additional "Churchill" authors.)
