Research Interests

Mechanism(s) through which dietary Mg-restricted diets mediate a pro-inflammatory/Oxidative condition in rodent models, with emphasis on dietary threshold levels; The impact of dietary Mg-restricted diets on rat hearts subjected to ischemia / reperfusion (I/R) stress; Investigate the neuropeptide release mechanism exhibited by postischemic rat hearts as well as normally-perfused rat hearts exposed to varying perfusate Mg concentrations; The influence of chronic AZT treatment on tissue iron content in normal and Mg-restricted rodents, and changes in cardiac susceptibility to I/R stress; Assess the altered cardiotoxic effects of doxorubicin during iron overload and Mg-deficiency in rodents using echocardiography; The involvement of endogenous iron redistribution as a mechanism to explain the beneficial effects of pre-conditioning on myocardial tissue subjected to severe postischemic stress; Determine the exogenous iron threshold level which predisposes hearts to I/R stress; Assess the acute and chronic antioxidant effects of d-propranolol and its analogs on I/R hearts from iron-loaded rats; and Use echocardiography to investigate the potential benefit of d-propranolol treatment during iron overload, and the potential benefits of neurokinin-1 receptor blockade during Mg deficiency in rodents.

Selected Publications

• Mak, I. T., Chmielinska, J.J., Kramer, J.H., Weglicki. W.B. AZT-Induced Cardiovascular Toxicity - Attenuation by Mg-Supplementation. Cardiovascular Toxicol. 9:78-85, 2009.
• Kramer, J.H., Spurney, C., Iantorno, M., Tziros, C., Mak, I-T., Tejero-Taldo, M.I., Chmielinska, J.J., Komarov, A.M., Weglicki, W.B. Neurogenic inflammation and cardiac dysfunction due to hypomagnesemia in a rodent model. Am. J. Med. Sci., 338:22-27, 2009.
• Mak, I.T., Kramer, J.H., Chmielinska, J.J., Khalid, H., Landgraf, K., Weglicki, W.B. Inhibition of Neutral endopeptidase potentiates neutrophil activation during Mg-deficiency in the rat. Inflammation Research 57:300-305, 2008.
• Kramer JH, Murthi SB, Wise RM, Mak IT, Weglicki WB. Antioxidant and lysosomotropic properties of acute d-propranolol underlies its cardioprotection of postischemic hearts from moderate iron-overloaded rats. Exp. Biol. Med. 231:473-484, 2006
• Tejero-Taldo, M.I., Kramer, J.H., Mak, I-Tong, Komarov, A.M., Chmielinska, J.J., Weglicki, W.B. The nerve-heart connection in the pro-oxidant response to Mg-deficiency. Heart Failure Reviews 11:35-44, 2006.
• Kramer, J.H. , Mak, I. T., Phillips, T.M., and Weglicki, W.B. Dietary Mg-intake influence circulating pro-inflammatory neuropeptide levels and loss of myocardial tolerance to postischemic stress Exp. Biol. Med. 228:665-673, 2003.