Professor and Department Chair
Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy
E-Mail: quockr@wsu.edu
Pharmacy site:
http://www.pharmacy.wsu.edu/pharmSci/quock.html
Phone: (509) 335-5545
One major research emphasis in our laboratory focuses on the
pharmacology of the anesthetic gas nitrous oxide (N2O),
also known as laughing gas? We have spent the past nearly 20 years
characterizing the analgesic properties of N2O
and were the first to provide chemical evidence that N2O
stimulates the neuronal release of endogenous opioid peptides that then
activate opioid receptors in the brain and spinal cord.
Our research has used quantitative trait loci (QTL) localization to
identify markers in the mouse genome that are significantly associated
with responsiveness to N2O and have
implicated the biological regulator nitric oxide (NO) as a critical
determinant of the analgesic mechanism of action of N2O.
Current research is elucidating the role of NO in the mechanism that
regulates neuronal release of opioid peptides.
Our more recent work has extended into study of the effects of another
medical gas, hyperbaric action (HBO2), which is the clinical application
of 100% oxygen at higher than atmospheric pressures for limited periods
of time (60-90 min) to achieve therapeutic outcomes. HBO2
treatment produces a number of beneficial effects, not the least of
which is pain relief. There are similarities between the
antinociceptive effect of HBO2 and that of N2O.
Current research is focused on identification of potential molecular
targets in the brain that might trigger the longer-lasting
antinociceptive response to HBO2 treatment.
The present research into the mechanisms of antinociceptive action of
HBO2 and N2O
utilizes a combination of stereotaxic neurosurgical, behavioral,
pharmacological, neurochemical, microdialysis, pharmacogenetic and
molecular biology approaches.
Biographical Information
Raymond M. Quock, Professor, obtained his B.S. degree in biology from
the University of San Francisco in 1970 and his Ph.D. in pharmacology
from the University of Washington in 1974. He spent one year as an
instructor in pharmacology at the University of Washington (1974-75) and
the next four years as an assistant professor of pharmacology at the
University of Pacific School of Pharmacy in Stockton, California
(1975-79). Dr. Quock then worked at the Marquette University School of
Dentistry in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1979-89), moving through the ranks of
assistant professor, associate professor and eventually to full
professor. He also held adjunct positions at the Medical College of
Wisconsin and the V.A. Medical Center. He then left Milwaukee for the
University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford (1989-98), where
he was professor of pharmacology and also adjunct professor of
pharmacology in anesthesiology at the University of Illinois College of
Medicine in Chicago (1993-98). Dr. Quock joined Washington State
University as professor and chair of pharmaceutical sciences in the
College of Pharmacy in January 1999. He is a member of both the
Neuroscience and Pharmacology/Toxicology graduate programs. After
returning to teaching and research in 2002. He was appointed to a second
term as department chair in July 2007 and was named the Allen I. White
Professor in August 2007.
Recent Publications
L.K. Vaughn and
R.M. Quock.. Nitrous oxide and opioid receptors.
In: Willis, W.D. and R.F. Schmidt, eds. Encyclopedia of
Pain, pp. 1347-1349. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York
(2007)
D.E. Emmanouil and
R.M. Quock.. Advances in understanding the
actions of nitrous oxide. Anesthesia Progress 54(1):9-18 (2007)
R.J. Pruhs, R.T. Pea and
R.M. Quock.. Antagonism of phosphoramidon-induced
antinociception in mice by μ- but not κ-opioid receptor blockers.
Life Sciences 80(19):1817-1820 (2007)
Y. Matsushita, M. Ishikawa, K. Abe, I. Utsunomiya, K. Hoshi,
R.M. Quock.
and K. Taguchi. Protein kinase Cγ is a key enzyme in the
development of tolerance to nitrous oxide-induced antinociception in
mice. Neuroscience 148(2):541-547 (2007)
D.E. Emmanouil, A.S. Dickens, R.W. Heckert, Y. Ohgami, E. Chung, S. Han
and
R.M. Quock.. Nitrous oxide-antinociception is mediated by
opioid receptors and nitric oxide in the periaqueductal gray region of
the brain. European Neuropsychopharmacology 18(3):194199 (2008)
Y. Ohgami, E. Chung, D.Y. Shirachi and
R.M. Quock.. Influence of
hyperbaric oxygen on regional brain levels and spinal cord levels of
nitric oxide metabolites in rat. Brain Research Bulletin
75(3):668-673 (2008)
