Prof. Dr. Jochen Klein

Pharmakologisches Institut für Naturwissenschaftler
Max-von-Laue-Str. 9
60438 Frankfurt

Tel 798-29366
Fax 798-29277

E-Mail: klein@em.uni-frankfurt.de

Web

Scientific Focus

  • Central cholinergic system and their relevance for Alzheimer´s disease. Measurement of acetylcholine synthesis and release in transgenic mouse models in vivo.
  • Stroke, ischemia and reperfusion in the brain and its metabolic consequences. Effects of centrally acting plant constituents such as Ginkgo biloba and its constituents.
  • Regulation and function of phospholipase D (PLD) in the brain. Significance of the PLD-ethanol interaction for glial growth and fetal alcohol syndrome.

Methods

  • In vivo-microdialysis to evaluate central cholinergic systems (rats and mice). Measurements of cholinergic parameters: HACU/LACU, AChE etc.
  • Middle cerebral artery occlusion in mice (stroke model). Combination with in vivo-microdialysis to measure glucose, lactate, and glutamate.
  • Basic animal experimentation: anesthesia, injections, blood and CSF withdrawal, arterio-venous differences.
  • Basic behavioural analysis of rats and mice (neurological and cognitive testing).
  • Brain slices as in vitro-models of ischemia; synaptosomes and synaptoneurosomes, e.g. for ion flux assays.
  • Primary cell cultures of neurons and astrocytes, e.g. for fluorescence microscopy (fura-2) and neurotoxicity assays.
  • High-performance liquid chromatography for the determination of acetylcholine and choline in the fmol range. Analysis of phospholipids and choline metabolites.
  • Measurements of phospholipase activation, e.g. phospholipase D by transphospha-tidylation assay.
  • Basic techniques in protein chemistry, cell and molecular biology (e.g. protein purification, electrophoresis, PCR, cell permeabilization with bacterial toxins).

Selected Publications

T.M. Schwarzkopf, K. Koch and J. Klein (2015) Reduced severity of ischemic stroke and improvement of mitochondrial function after dietary treatment with the anaplerotic substance triheptanoin. Neuroscience 300: 201-209.

U. Burkhardt, S. Beyer and J. Klein (2015) Small-molecular PLD inhibitors showed additional inhibitory effects in PLD-deficient mouse astrocytes. Eur. J. Pharmacol. 761: 398-404.

I. Imran, M.H. Hillert and J. Klein (2015) Metabolic responses to lithium/ pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus in rat brain. J. Neurochem. 135: 1007-1018.

F. Mohr, E. Krejci, M. Zimmermann and J. Klein (2015) Dysfunctional presynaptic M2 receptors in the presence of chronically high acetylcholine levels: data from the PRiMA knockout mouse. PLoS One 10(10):e0141136.

K. Koch, D. Berressem, J. Konietzka, A. Thinnes, Gunter P. Eckert and J. Klein (2017) Hepatic ketogenesis induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion in mice. J. Amer. Heart Assoc., doi: 10.1161/JAHA.117.005556.

M. König, A. Thinnes and J. Klein (2017) Microdialysis and its use in behavioural studies: Focus on acetylcholine. J. Neurosci. Meth., doi: 10.1016/jneumeth.2017.08.013.

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