UCLA Neuroscience Program Ph.D. Admissions Neuroscience Faculty UCLA and Beyond  



Nancy Wayne
Mechanisms Regulating Reproductive-Neuron Physiology

Email Address:  nwayne@mednet.ucla.edu
Home Page: http://www.uclaaccess.ucla.edu/cfm/access_faculty.cfm?FacultyKey=166

Work Address:
CHS
CHS
Phone Numbers:
310-206-5661 Phone Numbers:
310-206-9379 Laboratory
310-794-1159 Office

Selected Publications:

Ramakrishnan S, Wayne NL Social cues from conspecifics alter electrical activity of gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons in the terminal nerve via visual signals.. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol.. 2009; 297(1): R135-R141.
Ramakrishnan S, Wayne NL Impact of bisphenol-A on early embryonic development and reproductive maturation in medaka (Oryzias latipes). Reprod Toxicol. 2008; 25: 177-183.
Wayne NL, Kuwahara K Beta-endorphin alters electrical activity of gonadotropin releasing hormone neurons located in the terminal nerve of the teleost medaka (Oryzias latipes). Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2007; 150: 41-47.
Michel S, Wayne NL Neurohormone secretion persists following post-afterdischarge membrane depolarization and cytosolic calcium elevation in peptidergic neurons in intact nervous tissue.. J. Neurosci. 2002; 22: 9063-9069.
Wayne, NL, Frumovitz, M. Calcium influx following onset of electrical afterdischarge is not required for hormone secretion from neuroendocrine cells of Aplysia.. J. Endocrinology 1995; 136: 369-372.
Wayne, NL Kuwahara, K Aida, K Nagahama, Y Okubo, K Whole-cell electrophysiology of gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons that express green fluorescent protein in the terminal nerve of transgenic medaka (Oryzias latipes).. Biology of reproduction.. 2005; 73(6): 1228-34.
Wayne, NL Michel, S Synaptic stimulation of Aplysia peptidergic neurons can activate hormone secretion in the absence of an afterdischarge.. Neuroscience letters. . 2004; 362(3): 249-52.
Wayne, NL Lee, W Michel, S De Quintana, SB Post-afterdischarge depolarization does not stimulate prolonged neurohormone secretion but is required for activity-dependent stimulation of neurohormone biosynthesis from peptidergic neurons.. Endocrinology. . 2004; 145(4): 1678-84.
Wayne, NL Lee, W Michel, S Dyer, J Sossin, WS Activity-dependent regulation of neurohormone synthesis and its impact on reproductive behavior in aplysia.. Biology of reproduction. . 2004; 70(2): 277-81.
Lee, W Wayne, NL Secretion of locally synthesized neurohormone from neurites of peptidergic neurons.. Journal of neurochemistry. . 2004; 88(3): 532-7.
Dyer, JR Michel, S Lee, W Castellucci, VF Wayne, NL Sossin, WS An activity-dependent switch to cap-independent translation triggered by eIF4E dephosphorylation.. Nature neuroscience. . 2003; 6(3): 219-20.
Lee, W Jones, AM Ono, JK Wayne, NL Regional differences in processing of locally translated prohormone in peptidergic neurons of Aplysia californica.. Journal of neurochemistry. . 2002; 83(6): 1423-30.
Zhang, L Wayne, NL Sherwood, NM Postigo, HR Tsai, PS Biological and immunological characterization of multiple GnRH in an opisthobranch mollusk, Aplysia californica.. General and comparative endocrinology. . 2000; 118(1): 77-89.
Wayne, NL Lee, W Kim, YJ Persistent activation of calcium-activated and calcium-independent protein kinase C in response to electrical afterdischarge from peptidergic neurons of aplysia.. Brain research. . 1999; 834(1-2): 211-3.
Lee, W Wayne, NL The roles of transcription and translation in mediating the effect of electrical afterdischarge on neurohormone synthesis in Aplysia bag cell neurons.. Endocrinology. . 1998; 139(12): 5109-15.
Wayne, NL Kim, J Lee, E Prolonged hormone secretion from neuroendocrine cells of Aplysia is independent of extracellular calcium.. Journal of neuroendocrinology. . 1998; 10(7): 529-37.
Wayne, NL Kim, YJ Yong-Montenegro, RJ Seasonal fluctuations in the secretory response of neuroendocrine cells of Aplysia californica to inhibitors of protein kinase A and protein kinase C.. General and comparative endocrinology. . 1998; 109(3): 356-65.
Lee, W Wayne, NL The fate of newly synthesized hormone from neuroendocrine cells of Aplysia.. General and comparative endocrinology. . 1997; 107(2): 201-11.
Jonas, EA Knox, RJ Smith, TC Wayne, NL Connor, JA Kaczmarek, LK Regulation by insulin of a unique neuronal Ca2+ pool and of neuropeptide secretion.. Nature.. 1997; 385(6614): 343-6.
Nick, TA Moreira, JE Kaczmarek, LK Carew, TJ Wayne, NL Developmental dissociation of excitability and secretory ability in Aplysia bag cell neurons.. Journal of neurophysiology. . 1996; 76(5): 3351-9.
Wayne, NL The neuroendocrine bag cells of Aplysia: a model system for neural control of hormone secretion.. The Journal of endocrinology. . 1995; 147(1): 1-4.
Wayne, NL Wong, H Persistence of hormone secretion from neuroendocrine cells of aplysia after termination of electrical afterdischarge.. Endocrinology. . 1994; 134(3): 1046-54.
Research Interest:

The research goals of my lab are to understand mechanisms by which internal and external signals regulate the cell physiology of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons. In all vertebrates studied to date, GnRH neurons are the command cells for controlling reproductive physiology and behavior through the secretion of the decapeptide GnRH. We are developing zebrafish and medaka as novel animal modesl for studying GnRH neurophysiology. We have generated transgenic zebrafish in which green fluorescent protein (GFP) is expressed specifically in GnRH neurons; and, we have two transgenic populations of medaka expressing GFP in GnRH neurons. Using these transgenic animals, we can identify specific GnRH neurons for cell physiological analysis and optical imaging under different embryonic developmental stages and different reproductive conditions. Changes in the cell physiology of GnRH neurons ultimately controls reproductive physiology and behaviors. Therefore, understanding how internal and external signals influence GnRH neuronal function will give us critical information regarding their ultimate effects on reproduction.