Physiology

LU-YUAN LEE, Ph.D. Professor Ph.D. University of Mississippi, 1975 Office: MS-511A Medical Center 0298 Tel: (859) 323-6339 Lab: MS-506 Tel: (859) 257-3437 E-mail: lylee@uky.edu Lee Lab Page (pdf) Curriculum Vita (pdf)

Bronchial hyperreactivity is a characteristic feature of asthma. When bronchial hyperreactivity occurs during airway mucosal inflammation, the excitability of chemosensitive nerve endings innervating the airways is enhanced. The long-range goal of my research is to advance our understanding of the properties and functions of this specific group of sensory endings. Our current research focuses on the mechanisms by which hypersensitivity develops in these neurons.

In healthy lungs, these sensory terminals play an important role in defending the airways against inhaled irritants; and stimulation of these sensory endings elicit extensive protective cardiopulmonary reflex responses such as cough, bronchospasm, hypersecretion of mucus, etc. However, when these nerve endings become hypersensitive as a result of inflammation and injury of the airway mucosa, a given level of stimulus will then evoke a sustained and intense stimulation.

Ongoing projects are conducted to investigate: 1) the involvement of up regulation of TRPV1, a ligand-gated non-selective cation channel, in the manifestation of airway hypersensitivity in asthma and other airway inflammatory diseases; 2) mechanisms underlying the hypersensitivity of these nerve endings induced by airway mucosal inflammation; and 3) the interaction between ion channels and inflammatory mediators and cytokines in regulating the excitability of isolated pulmonary sensory neurons. Experiments are currently performed in human volunteers and various animal models using integrated and electrophysiological approaches, and cell- and molecular-biology techniques to answer these questions.

Representative Recent publications:

Lee, L.-Y., and B. J. Undem. Bronchopulmonary vagal sensory nerves. Chapter 11 (pp. 279-313) in: Advances in Vagal Afferent Neurobiology (ed. by B.J. Undem and D. Weinreich). Frontiers in Neuroscience Series, CRC Press, 2005 (Invited review)

Zhang, G. ,R.-L. Lin, M. Wiggers, D.M. Snow, and L.-Y. Lee. Altered expression of TRPV1 and sensitivity to capsaicin in pulmonary myelinated afferents following chronic airway inflammation in the rat. J. Physiol. (Lond) 586:5771-86, 2008.

Lee, L.-Y. Respiratory Sensations Evoked by Activation of Bronchopulmonary C-fibers. In: Dyspnea (Special Issue), ed. by D.E. O’Connell and J.T. Fisher. Respir. Physiol. Neurobiol. 167: 26-35, 2009 (Invited review)

Gu, Q. and L.-Y. Lee. Airway irritation and cough evoked by acid: from human to ion channel. Current Opinion in Pharmacol. 11: 238-47, 2011 (Invited review)

Other Publications (pdf)