Juming Zhong, DVM, PhD Associate Professor of Veterinary Histology, joined the College of Veterinary Medicine in 2001. He received his DVM from China in 1982 and his PhD in Physiology from University of Missouri in 1995.  He was a postdoctoral fellow with Drs. Joseph Hume and Kathleen Keef at University of Nevada School of Medicine and was promoted to a Research Assistant Professor there in 1999.
334-844-6739 zhongju@vetmed.auburn.edu
Research Interests The research interests of my laboratory include cardiac and vascular smooth muscle electrophysiology and pharmacology. One of the primary goals of my research is to investigate the signaling pathways underlying calcium channel regulation in both cardiac and vascular smooth muscle cells under normal and pathophysiological conditions. Calcium channels play a center role in the excitation-contraction coupling of these cells, and thus directly control cardiac function and vascular tone. Abnormal activity of these channels directly contributes to the heart diseases and abnormal blood pressure. Application of patch clamp technique allows us to study these channels in the freshly isolated cardiac and vascular smooth muscle cells. Another primary focus of my laboratory is to investigate the cellular mechanisms underlying myocardial dysfunction resulted from various patho-physiological conditions. Specifically, we try to understand the mechanisms that influence intracellular calcium homeostasis and cell contraction of cardiac myocytes taken from different animal disease models. Selected Publications Ding Y, Zou R, Judd RL, and Zhong J.  (2006)  Endothelin-1 receptor blockade prevented the electrophysiological dysfunction in cardiac myocytes of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Endocrine 30:121-127. Callaghan B, Zhong J, and Keef KD. (2006)  Signaling pathway underlying stimulation of L-type Ca2+ channels in rabbit portal vein myocytes by recombinant Gbgsubunits. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 291:H2541-46. Ding Y, Zou R, Judd RL, and Zhong J.  (2006)  Effects of gender difference on cardiac myocyte dysfunction in type-1 diabetic rats.  Endocrine 29:135-141. Banerjee S, Curto EV, Beckman M, Brown GB, Zhong J, and Krishna NR.  (2006)  Expression of functional scorpion neurotoxin Lqq-V in E.coli.  Peptides 27:49-54. Ding Y, Zou R, Judd RL, Schwartz DD, and Zhong J.   (2006)  Contribution of Endothelin-1 in cardiac myocyte dysfunction in type-1 diabetic rats.  J Card-Renal Res 1:23-32. Ding Y, Schwartz DD, Posner P, and Zhong J.  (2004)  Hypotonic swelling increases L-type calcium channel activity in rabbit portal vein smooth muscle cells through protein kinase C.  Am J Physiol 287:C413-C421. Wang G-X, Hatton WJ, Wang GL, Zhong J, Yamboliev I, Duan D, and Hume JR.  (2003)  Functional effects of novel anti-ClC-3 antibodies on native volume-sensitive osmolyte and anion channels in cardiac and smooth muscle cells.  Am J Physiol 285:H1453-H1463. Zhong J, Wang GX, Hatton WJ, Yamboliev IA, Walsh MP, and Hume JR.  (2002)  Regulation of volume-sensitive outwardly rectifying anion channels in pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells by protein kinase C.  Am J Physiol 283:C1627-C1636. Keef KD, Hume JR, and Zhong J.  (2001)  Regulation of cardiac and smooth muscle Ca2+ channels (Cav1a,b) by protein kinases.  Am J Physiol 281:C1743-1756. Zhong J, Dessauer CW, Keef KD, and Hume JR.  (1999)  Regulation of L-type Ca2+ channels in rabbit portal vein by G-protein ?s and ?? subunits.  J Physiol 517:109-120. Zhong J, Hwang T-C, Adams HR, and Rubin LJ.  (1997)  Reduced L-type calcium current in ventricular myocytes isolated from endotoxemic guinea pigs.  Am J Physiol 273:H2312-H2324. Zhong J, Adams HR, and Rubin LJ.  (1997)  Cytosolic Ca2+ concentration and contraction-relaxation properties of ventricular myocytes from E. Coli endotoxemic guinea pigs.  Shock 7:383-388.