H. Craig Heller
Title
Professor
Department
Biological Sciences
Research Interests
Neurobiology of sleep; circadian rhythms; thermoregulation.
Phone
723-1509
Fax
725-5356
Address
Gilbert Rm 420A
Mail Code: 5020
Faculty Research Description
Craig Heller's research interests are on the neurobiology of sleep, circadian rhythms, regulation of body temperature, and mammalian hibernation. He is co-director of the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology which also includes investigators from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. The goal of the Center is to foster multidisciplinary research that will lead to an understanding of the neural mechanisms controlling arousal states and arousal state transitions, and the neural mechanisms of circadian rhythm generation and entrainment. Thus, work in the Heller laboratory ranges from behavioral to molecular.
Studies of circadian rhythms include electrophysiological and neuropharmacological studies of the suprachiasmatic nuclei (the master circadian clock in mammals) in vivo and in vitro. In brain slice preparations these small nuclei continue to generate circadian rhythms of neuronal activity that can be monitored both chemically and electrically. Thus, cellular mechanisms of rhythm generation and phase shifting can be studied in vitro, and these studies are being extended to SCN cell cultures.
At the physiological and behavioral levels, the Center studies properties of the circadian system using new technology for computerized collection and analysis of data on sleep, activity, temperature, and other variables in many animals simultaneously and continuously. At the molecular level, studies are underway on the mechanisms of phase shifting and the circadian control of gene expression. The central nervous system mechanisms of thermoregulation are of interest because this is one of the few opportunities in the mammalian nervous system to follow information processing from transduction, through integration, to effector responses. Also, thermoregulation is
strongly modulated by sleep and circadian rhythms, providing an opportunity to understand how sleep and circadian systems influence autonomic functions. Some current projects focus on the aging of sleep, circadian rhythm, and thermoregulatory control systems and on the development of these systems.
The developmental studies are designed around hypothesis concerning the possible etiology of SIDS. Hibernation is an extreme suite of adaptations that involves all of the neural systems being studied in the Center, so it is of special interest.
Benington, J.H. and H.C. Heller. 1995. Cerebral metabolism and the function of sleep. Prog. in Neurobiology. 45:347-360.
Benington, J.H. and H.C. Heller. 1994. REM-sleep timing is controlled homeostatically by
accumulation of REM-sleep propensity in non-REM sleep. Am. J. Physiol. 266:R1992-R2000.
Larkin, J.E. and H.C. Heller. 1996. Temperature sensitivity of sleep homeostasis during hibernation
in the golden-mantled ground squirrel. Am. J. Physiol. 270:R777-R784.
O'Hara, B.F., Watson, F.L.. Andretic, R., Wiler, S.W., Young, K. A., Bitting, L., Heller, H.C., Kilduff, T.S.
1997. Daily variation of CNS gene expression in nocturnal vs. diurnal rodents and in the
developing rat brain. Mol. Brain Res. 48:73-86.
Frank, Marcos G. and H.C. Heller. 1997. Development of REM and slow wave sleep in the rat. Am.
J. Physiol. 272:R1792-R1799.
Areas of Study
Systems/Behavioral Neuroscience
Cellular Neurobiology
Molecular Neurobiology
SBRC
Ph.D.