Esther Dupont-Versteegden, Ph.D. is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Geriatrics. As a part of Dr. Charlotte Peterson’s research group, she continues to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying muscle atrophy. In a paper in the American Journal of Physiology, she reported that the number of dead or dying nuclei increases after spinal cord transection and that exercise attenuates this decline in muscle cell numbers. These studies indicate that exercise can maintain muscle mass in extreme situations such as spinal cord injury. Dr. Dupont-Versteegden is also working to identify pathways acting in the muscle cells that control muscle mass in both young and old. She has demonstrated that muscles from old animals undergoing atrophy do not maintain muscle mass to the same extent as muscles from young animals with the same amount of activity. Decreased adult stem cell function is involved in the attenuated response of old muscle to activity. Dr. Dupont-Versteegden has recently began to investigate the use of adult muscle stem cells in the repair of cardiac tissue injured due to a cardiac infarction.

Selected Publications:

Dupont-Versteegden, Esther E.E., Houle, J.D., Dennis, R.A., Zhang, J., Knox, M., Wagoner, G., Peterson, C.A. Exercise-induced gene expression in soleus muscle is dependent on time after spinal cord injury in rats. Muscle & Nerve, 29: 73-81, 2004.

Lang, J.M., Esser, K.A., Dupont-Versteegden, E.E. Altered activity of signaling pathways in diapgragm and tibialis anterior muscle of dystrophic mice. Experimental Biology and Medicine, 229: 503-511, 2004.

Gallegly, J.C., Turesky, N.A., Strotman, B.A., Gurley, C.M., Peterson, C.A., and Dupont-Versteegden, E.E. Satellite cell regulation of muscle mass is altered at old age. Journal of Applied Physiology, 97: 1082-1090, 2004.

Leeuwenburgh, C., Gurley, C.M., Strotman, B.A., and Dupont-Versteegden, E.E. Age-related differences in apoptosis with disuse atrophy in soleus muscle. American Journal of Physiology Regulatory, Integrative, and Comparative Physiology, 288: R1288-R1296, 2005.           

Khaidakov, M., Chavannes-Turesky, N., Cooney, C.A., Dupont-Versteegden, E.E., Kennedy, R.H., Siegel, E.R., and Shmookler-Reis, R.J. Contribution of de novo point mutations to the overall mutational burden in mitochondrial DNA of adult rats. Experimental Gerontology, 40: 396-402, 2005.