BiosketchDr. Micci obtained her Ph.D. in 1989 from the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Rome "La Sapienza". In 1990, Dr. Micci completed a 1-year postdoctoral program at UTMB in the Department of Neuroscience. In 1991 she returned to Rome, Italy. There she became clinical monitor at the Wellcome Italia where she assisted in the evaluation of the efficacy and safety of drugs through phases II, III and I clinical trials. In 1993, Dr. Micci returned to UTMB as a postdoctoral trainee in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. Her research involved the study of regulation of calcium homeostasis in chicken cerebellar Purkinje cells, rat dorsal root ganglia and catfish retina. In 1996, Dr. Micci became Instructor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. In 1997 she was awarded a one year funding from UTMB as part of the UTMB Small Grant program for her work aimed at the characterization of the sodium/calcium exchanger in catfish retinal horizontal cells and its role in the regulation of calcium homeostasis.
Dr Micci joined the Division of Gastroenterology in the Department of Internal Medicine at UTMB in 1998. Her current research focuses on studying gastrointestinal motility disorders both at the cellular and molecular level.
Dr. Micci is currently Co-Investigator in a NIH-R01 looking at the use of neural stem cells for the treatment of achalasia and other neurodegenerative gastrointestinal disorders. Neural stem cells (NSC) are primordial uncommitted cells postulated to give rise to the array of specialized cells in the central nervous system. Following implantation in animals, these cells appear to respond to local cues and begin to specialize appropriately. They have been shown to develop into cells of most neuronal and glial (support cells) lineage and have the potential for treating a wide variety of neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson's disease. Transplantation of these cells could also be of benefit in degenerative conditions of the enteric nervous system such as achalasia, a disorder of swallowing caused by a local loss of nerve cells.
Dr. Micci began working in this area in 1999 and preliminary experiments, funded by the Texas Board of Higher Education, have demonstrated that NSC isolated from rat forebrain (CNS-NSC) can, not only produce key neurotransmitters such as nitric oxide (NO) but also be successfully transplanted into the stomach of mice where they differentiate into neuron and survive up to 8 weeks. Moreover, these cells are able to form functional neuromuscular connections and may be able to modulate gastric emptying. These studies therefore support the hypothesis that transplantation of CNS-derived NSC is a promising cellular replacement strategy for enteric neurons.
Having established the feasibility of neuronal transplantation into the gut, Dr. Micci is now engaged in a series of experiments designed to determine the optimal conditions required for successful engraftment and functional benefit. |
Selected PublicationsMicci, M.A., Christensen, B.N. Sodium/Calcium exchange in catfish retinal horizontal cells and its role in the regulation of intracellular calcium store function. Am. J. Physiol.: Cell Physiol., 274: C1625-C1633; 1998.
Toma, H., Winston, J., Micci, M.A., Shenoy, M. and Pasricha, P.J. Nerve Growth Factor expression is up-regulated in experimental pancreatitis. Gastroenterology, 119 (5): 1373-1381, 2000.
Micci M.A., Learish R.D., Li H., Abraham B. and Pasricha P.J. Neural stem cells express RET, produce nitric oxide and can survive transplantation in the gastrointestinal tract. Gastroenterology 121:757-766, 2001.
Hoogerwerf W.A., Zou L., Shenoy M., Micci M.A., Hellmich H., Xiao S.Y., Winston J.H. and Pasricha P.J. The proteinase-activated receptor 2 is involved in nociception. J. Neurosci. 21: 9036-9042, 2001.
Toma H. Winston JH. Micci MA. Li H. Hellmich HL. Pasricha PJ. Characterization of the neurotrophic response to acute pancreatitis. Pancreas. 25(1):31-8, 2002.
Hoogerwerf WA, Hellmich HL, Micci MA, Zou L, Winston JH, Pasricha PJ
Molecular cloning of the rat proteinase-activated receptor 4 (PAR4)
BMC Molecular Biology 3:2, 2002
Winston JH, Toma H, Shengoy M, He ZH, Zou L, Xiao SY, Micci MA, Pasricha PJ
Acute Pancreatitis Results in Referred Mechanical Hypersensitivity and Neuropeptide Up-Regulation That Can Be Suppressed by the Protein Kinase Inhibitor K252a.The Journal of Pain 4(6): 329, 2003 |
