clcox@life.illinois.edu
2357 Beckman Institute
Office: (217) 265-0573
Lab: (217) 244-6618
Fax: (217) 244-5180
Mail to:
2357 Beckman Institute
405 N. Mathews Ave
Urbana, IL 61801
Charles Lee Cox
Associate Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Pharmacology, Biophysics and Neuroscience
Education
B.S. 1986 University of California, Riverside
M.A. 1990 University of California, Riverside
Ph.D. 1993 University of California, Riverside
Postdoc. 1993-1996 Stanford University
Postdoc. 1996-2000 State University of New York, Stony Brook
Teaching Interests
Functional organization and neuromodulation of thalamocortical circuits, Neuronal excitability, Synaptic Physiology and Plasticity, Epilepsy.
My fundamental interests include the understanding of cellular mechanisms underlying behavioral plasticity. Using a reductionist type approach, these cellular mechanisms likely serve as the bases for behavioral and cognitive functions such as attention, arousal, perception, learning and memory. My research is concentrated on the neurophysiology and pharmacology of neocortical and thalamic neurons in the mammalian central nervous system. The core of this research is on the cellular mechanisms involved with the regulation and modulation of neuronal excitability at both the synaptic and membrane level. These studies focus on thalamocortical circuits, because of the critical relationship of the neocortex and thalamus in sensory processing, behavioral arousal, attention and certain pathophysiological conditions such as epilepsy. While both the thalamus and neocortex are complicated structures individually, they also form an intricate, reciprocal relationship that is critical for understanding sensory/motor/associative processing at both the cellular and systems level. The importance of this works lies in the fact that the majority of behavioral activities including arousal, attention, sensory perception, learning and memory result from a concerted effort by multiple neuronal systems. Thus, information integration at the single cell level is very critical, as well as the role of these individual cells in circuit based activities. Long-lasting modifications in neuronal excitability (i.e., neuromodulation, synaptic plasticity) have also been hypothesized to be the cellular correlates underlying these behavioral activities.
The work in my lab addresses four basic issues:
- functional organization of sensory neocortex and thalamus
- thalamocortical interaction and modulation
- brainstem regulation of thalamic/cortical neuron excitability
- integration of thalamocortical and intracortical information in the neocortex
The experimental approaches we use in the laboratory include a combination of neuroanatomical, neurophysiological and neuropharmacological techniques. Our studies range from the level of single channels to intact neuronal networks in vitro. This research strategy, ranging from the study of intracellular messenger systems to the synchronized activity of large neuronal populations, should provide a better understanding of cellular mechanisms that underlie lasting modulatory changes in neuronal excitability and provide a better understanding of physiological mechanisms that underlie behavior.
Representative Publications
Govindaiah, G. and Cox, C.L. 2009. Distinct roles of metabotropic glutamate receptor activation on inhibitory signaling in the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus. Journal of Neurophysiology 101: 1761-1773.
Beatty, J.A., Sylwestrak, E.L., and Cox, C.L. 2009. Two distinct populations of projection neurons in the rat lateral parafascicular thalamic nucleus and their cholinergic responsiveness. Neuroscience, in press.
Yang, S. and Cox, C.L. 2008. Excitatory and anti-oscillatory actions of nitric oxide in thalamus. Journal of Physiology, 586:3617-3628.
Lee, S-H, Govindaiah, G., and Cox, C.L. 2008. Excitatory actions of peptide histidine isoleucine on thalamic relay neurons. Neuropharmacology, in press.
Yang, S. and Cox, C.L. 2007. Presynaptic enhancement of inhibitory activity by nitric oxide in the rat dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus. Journal of Neurophysiology, 97:3386–95. [Abstract]
Lee, S-H, Govindaiah, and Cox, C.L., (2007) Heterogeneity of firing properties among rat thalamic reticular neurons. Journal of Physiology, 582:195–208. [Abstract]
Wilson, B.M. and Cox, C.L., 2007. Absence of metabotropic glutamate receptor-mediated plasticity in the neocortex of Fragile X mice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104:2454–9. [Abstract]
Govindaiah, G. and Cox, C.L., 2006. Metabotropic glutamate receptors differentially regulate GABAergic inhibition in thalamus. Journal of Neuroscience, 26: 13443–13453. [Abstract]
Govindaiah, G. and Cox, C.L., 2006. Modulation of thalamic neuron excitability by orexins. Neuropharmacology, 51: 414–425. [Abstract]
Lee, S-H and Cox, C.L. 2006. Excitatory actions of vasoactive intestinal peptide in mouse thalamus are mediated by VPAC_2 receptors. Journal of Neurophysiology, 96: 858-871.
Govindaiah and Cox, C.L., 2006. Depression of retinogeniculate synaptic transmission by presynaptic D2-like dopamine receptors in rat lateral geniculate nucleus. European Journal of Neuroscience, 23(2):423–34. [Abstract]
Govindaiah and Cox, C.L., 2006. Excitatory actions of synaptically released catecholamines in the rat lateral geniculate nucleus. Neuroscience, 137(2):671–83. [Abstract]
Govindaiah and Cox, C.L., 2005. Excitatory actions of dopamine via D1-like receptors in the rat lateral geniculate nucleus. Journal of Neurophysiology, 94(6):3708–18. [Abstract]
Govindaiah and Cox, C.L. 2004. Synaptic activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors regulates dendritic outputs of thalamic interneurons. Neuron, 41(4):611–23. [Abstract]
Lee, S-H and Cox, C.L. 2003. Vasoactive intestinal peptide selectively depolarizes thalamic relay neurons and attenuates intrathalamic rhythmic activity. Journal of Neurophysiology, 90(2):1224–34. [Abstract]
Cox, C.L. and S.M. Sherman. 2000. Control of dendritic outputs of inhibitory interneurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus. Neuron, 27(3):597–610. [Abstract]
Cox, C.L., W. Denk, Tank, D., and K. Svoboda. 2000. Action potentials reliably invade axonal arbors of rat neocortical neurons. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 97(17):9724–8. [Abstract]
Cox, C.L. and Sherman, S.M.. 1999. Glutamate inhibits thalamic reticular neurons. Journal of Neuroscience 19(15):6694–9. [Abstract]
Cox, C.L., Q. Zhou, and Sherman, S.M.. 1998. Glutamate locally activates dendritic outputs of thalamic interneurons. Nature, 394(6692):478–82. [Abstract]