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John
Watkins Lab
Research Interests
Antioxidants, Oxidative Stress and Low Carbohydrate Diets in
Diabetes
Ongoing research is helping expand our
comprehension of the complex control of oxidative stress.
Several specific interests include determining 1) the role of
diabetes mellitus-induced glycation and glycosylation, 2) the
effect of diabetes on gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase regulation,
and 3) the role of antioxidants or low carbohydrate diets on
oxidative stress in health and disease.
A second area of active investigation involves study of the
effects of oxidative stress on diabetes-induced retinopathy. The
early mechanisms leading to damage of the retina are unclear,
and we are determining the role of reactive oxygen species as
contributors to the onset of damage in galactosemic rats, the
influence of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase in regulating
glutathione status in retina and in controlling retinal damage,
and the effects of various antioxidants on diabetes-induced
retinopathy.
Representative Publications:
Otsyula, M.,
King, M.S., Ketcham, T.G., Sanders, R.A., and Watkins, J.B.
Characterization of oxidative stress in various tissues of rats
after 60 days of diabetes or galactose feeding. Int. J. Toxicol. 22:423-427, 2003.
Martin, B.J., Watkins, J.B., and Ramsey, J.W.
Evaluating the metabolic syndrome in a medical physiology
laboratory. Adv. Physiol. Edu. 28: 195-8, 2004.
Berryman, A., Maritim, A.C., Sanders, R.A. and
Watkins, JB. Influence of treatment of diabetic rats with
combinations of pycnogenol, β-carotene and α-lipoic acid on
parameters of oxidative stress. J. Biochem. Mol. Toxicol. 18:
345-352, 2004.
Dene, B.A., Maritim, A.C., Sanders, R.A. and
Watkins, JB. Effects of beta-carotene, lipoic acid and
pycnogenol on oxidative stress in retina of normal and diabetic
rats. J. Ocular Pharmacol. Therap. 21: 28-35, 2005.
Kamuren, Z.T., McPeek, C.G., Sanders, R.A. and
Watkins, J.B. Effects of low-carbohydrate diet and pycnogenol
treatment on retinal antioxidant enzymes in normal and diabetic
rats. J. Ocular Pharmacol. Therap. 22: 10-18, 2006.
Kamuren, Z.T., O’Neill, D.F., Sanders, R.A., and
Watkins, JB. Low-carbohydrate diet and hepatic oxidative stress
in diabetic and non-diabetic rats. J. Biochem. Mol. Tox.,in
press, 2006.
Selected Reviews, Book
Chapters, and Books:
Maritim, A.C.,
Sanders, R.A., and Watkins, J.B. Oxidative Stress, Antioxidants and
Diabetes: A Review. J. Biochem. Mol. Toxicol. 17: 24-38,
2003.
Klaassen, C.D., and Watkins,
J.B. (Editors), Casarett and Doull’s Essentials of Toxicology,
McGraw-Hill, New York, 2003.
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