Benjamin B. Gelman, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor

Affiliations: Department of Pathology

Education

• B.A., Ohio University, 1971
• Ph.D., University of Cincinnati, 1978
• M.D., 1983

Mononuclear Phagocytes in the Nervous System

We use a combination of traditional structural, ultrastructural and biochemical techniques to elucidate how macrophages and microglial cells influence growth, degeneration and regeneration of the nervous system. These cells are the major instrument of immune function in the central nervous system; learning how they operate will lead to potential treatment strategies for neurological diseases. For our human studies, we quantify microglial cell activation in diseased and normal brain tissue collected at autopsy. We currently have ongoing studies on how activated microglial cells participate in the neurodegeneration associated with AIDS, Alzheimer's disease and senile brain atrophy. We correlate our morphological findings with expression of genes controlling synaptic integrity (such as synaptophysin and growth-associated protein-43) and integrity of other structural proteins using immunoblotting and nucleic acid hybridizations. In our animal studies, we use models of demyelination and remyelination of the rat peripheral nervous system to delineate specific macrophage phenotypes during remodeling of the peripheral nervous system. Our in vitro studies are directed at activating rat macrophages with distinct myelin and neural antigens, then isolating selectively expressed genes using subtractive hybridization. Overall, we want to isolate macrophage genes crucial in driving specific macrophage responses in the nervous system, then manipulate them in ways that are beneficial to patients with neurological diseases.

Selected Publications

Gilman, BB. Diffuse microgliosis associated with cerebral atrophy in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Ann Neurol 34:65-70, 1993.

Gelman BB, Wolf DA, Rodriguez-Wolf M, West B, Haque A, Cloyd MW. Mononuclear phagocyte hydrolytic enzyme activity associated with cerebral HIV infection. Am J Pathol 151:1437-1446, 1997.

Wolf DA, Dholakia S, Cloyd MW, Gelman, BB. Proteolysis in the myelopathy of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: preferential loss of the C-8 component of myelin basic protein. Lab Invest 77:1-11, 1997.

Wang L, Gelman BB, Konig R, Cloyd MW. A novel mechanism of CD4 lymphocyte depletion involves effects of HIV on resting lymphocytes: Induction of lymph node homing and apoptosis upon secondary signaling through homing receptors. J Immunol 162:268-276, 1999.

Painter TJ, Chaljub G, Asthi R, Gelman BB. Meningeal melanocytoma of the basal meninges and upper cervical meninges. Amer J Neuroradiol 21:1349-1353, 2000.

GEelman BB, Trier TT, Chaljub G, Borokowski J, Nauta HJW. Oncocytoma in melanocytoma of the spinal cord. Neurosurgery 47:756-759, 2000.

Gelman BB, Nader R, Popov V, Borkowski J, Rauf S, Chaljub G, Nauta H. Encephalitis Due to Sappinia diploidea. JAMA 285:7, 2001.
Morgello, S, Gelman BB, Grant E, Singer E, Vinters H and Kozlowski P. The National NeuroAIDS Tissue Consortium. Clinical Neuropathology In Press, 2001.