STEPHEN W. SCHEFF, Ph.D.

UK Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology

Faculty Research

STEPHEN W. SCHEFF, Ph.D.
University of Missouri, Columbia, MO (1974)
Postdoctoral Training at University of California at Irvine
Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology
Associate Director, Center on Aging

Research Interests: Synaptic Changes in Aging and Alzheimer's Disease; Neuropathology of Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injury

Dr. Scheff’s laboratory is involved in numerous projects which relate to the capacity of the CNS response to injury

brain and spinal cord to respond to injury. By employing animal models of cortical contusion and spinal cord injury, it is possible to assess specific cellular and molecular events which can be manipulated to improve functional outcome. Many different avenues for enhancing the brain and spinal cord’s self-repair process are explored. These experiments are multidisciplinary in their approach and utilize numerous morphologic, neurochemical, cellular and molecular techniques to probe some of the mechanisms behind the compensatory process.

Clinically, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by progressive deterioration of an individual’s cognitive functions, most clearly demonstrated by a loss of memory. Exactly what histopathologies are necessary or sufficient to produce these changes is still unknown. In AD there is significant loss of neurons which leads to a loss of synaptic contacts. It is important to determine what type of CNS compensatory response occurs in these individuals. These studies have determined that AD patients have a significant deficit in replacing lost synaptic contacts throughout many areas of the cortex yet clearly do attempt to compensate. In addition, the loss of synaptic connections closely correlates with a decline in cognitive function.

Hall, E.D., Sullivan, P.G., Gibson, T.R., Pavel, K.M., Thompson, B.M. and Scheff, S.W. Spatial and temporal characteristics of neurodegeneration after controlled cortical impact in mice: more than a focal brain injury. Journal of Neurotrauma 2005 22:252-265

Keller, J.N., Schmitt, F.A., Scheff, S.W., Ding, Q., Chen, Q. Butterfield, D.A., and Markesbery, W.R. Evidence of increased oxidative damage in subjects with mild cognitive impairment. Neurology 2005 64:1152-1156

Anderson, K.J., Fugaccia, I., and Scheff, S.W. Regional distribution of Fluoro-Jade B staining in the hippocampus following traumatic brain injury. Experimental Neurology 2005 193:125-130

Scheff, S.W., Price, D.A., Hicks, R.R., Baldwin, S.A., Robinson, S., and Brackney, C. Synaptogenesis in the hippocampal CA1 field following traumatic brain injury. Journal of Neurotrauma 2005 22:719-732

Scheff, S.W., Price, D.A., Schmitt, F.A., and Mufson, E. Loss of synapses in the hippocampal dentate gyrus in early Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment. Neurobiology of Aging 2006 27:1372-1384

Scheff, S.W. and Price, D.A. Alzheimer’s disease-related alterations in synaptic density: neocortex and hippocampus Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 2006 9:101-115

Shao, C.X, Roberts, K.N., Markesbery, W.R., Scheff, S.W. and Lovell, M.A. Oxidative stress in head trauma in aging. Free Radical Biology and Medicine 2006 41:77-85

Swartz, K.R., Fee, D.B., Joy, K.M., Roberts, K.N., Sun, S., Scheff, N.N., Wilson, M.E., and Scheff, S.W. Gender differences in spinal cord injury are not estrogen-dependent. Journal of Neurotrauma 2007 24:473-480

Bruce-Keller, A.J., Dimayuga, F.O., Reed, J.L., Wang, C., Angers, R., Wilson, M.E., Dimaygua, V.M., and Scheff, S.W. Gender and estrogen manipulation do not modulate TBI in mice. Journal of Neurotrauma 2007 24:203-215

Scheff, S.W., Price, D.A., Schmitt, F.A., DeKosky, S.T., and Mufson, E.J. Synaptic alterations in CA1 in mild Alzheimer disease and mild cognitive impairment. Neurology 2007 68:1501-1508

Rabchevsky, A.G., Sullivan, P.G., and Scheff, S.W. Temporal-spatial dynamics in oliogodendrocyte and glial progenitor cell numbers throughout ventrolateral white matter following contusion spinal cord injury. Glia 2007 55:831-843