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Rajagopala (Sridar) Sridaran, Ph.D.
Professor
Morehouse School of Medicine
Department of Physiology, MEB 345
720 Westview Drive, SW
Atlanta , GA 30310
Phone: 404-752-1684
Fax: 404-752-1045
sridaran@msm.edu
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Education
B.Sc. Zoology, Government Arts College , Salem , India , 1970.
M.Sc. Zoology, Madras Christian College , Tambaram, Chennai , India , 1972.
Ph.D. Physiology/Endocrinology, University of Health Sciences/Chicago Medical School, Chicago , IL , 1977.
Postdoc. Training -
1977-1978, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE.
1978-1981, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Medicine, Chicago, IL.
Affiliations
Faculty Member, Department of Physiology
Principal Investigator, Cooperative Reproductive Science Research Center
Research Interests
The primary research interest of my laboratory is to establish the presence of neuropeptides in the corpus luteum/ovary and determine their role in the steroidogenesis by the corpus luteum/ovary during pregnancy. Steroidogenesis by the corpus luteum culminates in progesterone production. We primarily use the rat and recently the monkey model systems to answer these questions.
Rat Studies: Progesterone is responsible for maintaining pregnancy in the rat. We have demonstrated that the administration of a GnRH agonist suppresses luteal steroidogenesis resulting in the termination of pregnancy in the rat and the induction of apoptosis of the corpus luteum. The molecular and cellular basis for GnRH action on the corpus luteum is currently under investigation. Based on these findings, we propose a hypothesis that as pregnancy progresses in the rat, there is an increase in the expression of GnRH in the corpus luteum which ultimately leads to apoptosis and suppression of steroidogenesis in the corpus luteum and the termination of pregnancy. The results of this study could lead to considering GnRH as an attractive agent in women in terminating pregnancy during the first month of pregnancy when progesterone of luteal origin sustains pregnancy. On the other hand, if abnormally high levels of GnRH are present in the ovary, it could be responsible for preventing women from getting pregnant or sustaining pregnancy should they get pregnant. Our preliminary findings support the hypothesis that bradykinin is present in the
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