Dorothee Weihrauch, DVM, PhD

Professor

Contact Information

Biography

Education

DVM, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany, 1989
PhD, Max-Planck Institute for Experimental Cardiology, Bad Nauheim, Germany, 1993
Postdoctoral training, Cardiovascular Physiology, Texas A&M, College Station, TX, 1995
Postdoctoral training, Cardiovascular Physiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, 1996

Research Interests

Genetics of cardiomyocyte and cardiac matrix interaction: The HyperGen iPSC Study
Function of myeloperoxidase (MPO) in collateral growth in a model of diabetes
Understanding preeclampsia: Search for novel therapeutic modalities
Small molecule NO precursors as a bioactive source of NO in vasodilation and angiogenesis

Wavelength-dependence of vasodilation and NO release from S-nitrosothiols and dinitrosyl iron complexes by far red/near infrared light.

(Keszler A, Lindemer B, Hogg N, Weihrauch D, Lohr NL.) Arch Biochem Biophys. 2018 Jul 01;649:47-52.
Red/near infrared light stimulates release of an endothelium dependent vasodilator and rescues vascular dysfunction in a diabetes model.

(Keszler A, Lindemer B, Weihrauch D, Jones D, Hogg N, Lohr NL.) Free Radic Biol Med. 2017 12;113:157-164.
Detection of TRPV4 channel current-like activity in Fawn Hooded hypertensive (FHH) rat cerebral arterial muscle cells.

(Gebremedhin D, Zhang DX, Weihrauch D, Uche NN, Harder DR.) PLoS One. 2017;12(5):e0176796.
Lipid emulsion enhances cardiac performance after ischemia-reperfusion in isolated hearts from summer-active arctic ground squirrels.

(Salzman MM, Cheng Q, Deklotz RJ, Dulai GK, Douglas HF, Dikalova AE, Weihrauch D, Barnes BM, Riess ML.) J Comp Physiol B. 2017 Jul;187(5-6):715-724.
Vasodilation of Isolated Vessels and the Isolation of the Extracellular Matrix of Tight-skin Mice.

(Weihrauch D, Krolikowski JG, Jones DW, Zaman T, Bamkole O, Struve J, Pagel PS, Lohr NL, Pritchard KA Jr.) J Vis Exp. 2017 03 24(121).
An IRF5 Decoy Peptide Reduces Myocardial Inflammation and Fibrosis and Improves Endothelial Cell Function in Tight-Skin Mice.

(Weihrauch D, Krolikowski JG, Jones DW, Zaman T, Bamkole O, Struve J, Pillai S, Pagel PS, Lohr NL, Pritchard KA Jr.) PLoS One. 2016;11(4):e0151999.
Alagebrium inhibits neointimal hyperplasia and restores distributions of wall shear stress by reducing downstream vascular resistance in obese and diabetic rats.

(Wang H, Weihrauch D, Kersten JR, Toth JM, Passerini AG, Rajamani A, Schrepfer S, LaDisa JF Jr.) Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2015 Oct;309(7):H1130-40.
Isoflurane favorably modulates guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase-1 and endothelial nitric oxide synthase during myocardial ischemia and reperfusion injury in rats.

(Baotic I, Weihrauch D, Procknow J, Vasquez-Vivar J, Ge ZD, Sudhakaran S, Warltier DC, Kersten JR.) Anesthesiology. 2015 Sep;123(3):582-9.
A novel path of improving heart function after infarction.

(Pritchard KA Jr, Weihrauch D.) J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2015 Jul;84:200-1.
Porous ongrowth surfaces alter osteoblast maturation and mineralization.

(Ninomiya JT, Struve JA, Krolikowski J, Hawkins M, Weihrauch D.) J Biomed Mater Res A. 2015 Jan;103(1):276-81.
Sigma-1 receptor expression in sensory neurons and the effect of painful peripheral nerve injury.

(Bangaru ML, Weihrauch D, Tang QB, Zoga V, Hogan Q, Wu HE.) Mol Pain. 2013 Sep 10;9:47.
Inhibition of myeloperoxidase decreases vascular oxidative stress and increases vasodilatation in sickle cell disease mice.

(Zhang H, Xu H, Weihrauch D, Jones DW, Jing X, Shi Y, Gourlay D, Oldham KT, Hillery CA, Pritchard KA Jr.) J Lipid Res. 2013 Nov;54(11):3009-15.

Brief Research Summaries

Genetics of cardiomyocyte and cardiac matrix interaction: The HyperGen iPSC Study

This study represents one of the largest collections of existing hiPSC cell lines from an epidemiological study. As part of this project, we study the role and interaction of the cardiac matrix with expression changes on human iPSC-CMs.

Function of myeloperoxidase (MPO) in collateral growth in a model of diabetes

The function of MPO in the development of collateral growth is unknown. We are focusing on the role of MPO in a well-established model of diabetes, the db/db mouse.

Understanding preeclampsia: Novel therapeutic modalities

This study focuses on a better understanding of this multifactorial disease which affects 8% of all pregnant women and has great impact on their cardiovascular health. Our findings point us to different pathways for early and late onset of preeclampsia. We are currently pursuing the benefits of near infrared light (670nm) in this project.

Small molecule NO precursors as a bioactive source of NO in vasodilation and angiogenesis

We have found nitric oxide (NO) precursors in blood and tissues which are stimulated by 670 nm light energy (R/NIR) to release NO and produce a stable NO bound vasodilator. The goal is to assess the impact of these iron and thiol based NO precursors in a chronic model of angiogenesis-rat hindlimb ischemia.

Dorothee Weihrauch, DVM, PhD