Current Research Interests/Projects:
My current VA-funded grant is examining the underlying mechanisms that sustain persistent neuroendocrine and behavioral responses after severe stress. Using an animal model of repeated stressor exposure, we are examining the role of central nervous system corticotropin-releasing hormone and glucocorticoid receptors in maintaining adrenocortical activation and elevations in core body temperature for days after stressor exposures, as well as inhibiting the thyroid and testicular hormone axes. We have also examined long-term changes in startle responsiveness, analgesia and biological rhythms. A second project is examining the relationship between plasma enzymes that protect against anticholinesterase neurotoxins and the health of veterans who served in the Persian Gulf War. This is a large scale epidemiological study of enzyme levels in plasma samples from over 3,000 subjects, and the relationships of these levels to the veteran's health and to other physiological, neurophysiological, psychiatric and demographic variables. Another long-term project in my lab is to examine the role of adrenocortical and other hormones in chronic illnesses, particularly chronic fatigue syndrome. My laboratory serves as a radioimmunoassay core laboratory for several other clinical and basic science projects that measure a wide range of hormones in plasma, saliva and urine.

Representative Publications:

Servatius RJ, Ottenweller JE, Natelson BH. Delayed startle sensitization distinguishes
rats exposed to 1 or 3 stress sessions: further evidence toward an animal model of
PTSD. Biological Psychiatry, 38: 539-546, 1995.

Pitman DL, Natelson BH, Ottenweller JE, McCarty R., Pritzel T, Tapp WN. Effects
of exposure to stressors of varying predictability on adrenal function in rats.
Behavioral Neuroscience, 109: 767-776, 1995.

Servatius RJ, Ottenweller JE, Natelson BH, Beldowicz D, Guo WD, Zhu G.
Persistently exaggerated startle responses in rats treated with pyridostigmine
bromide. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 287: 1020-1028, 1998.

Laemle LK, Ottenweller JE. Nonphotic entrainment of activity and temperature
rhythms in anopthalmic mice. Physiology and Behavior, 66: 461-471, 1999.

Servatius RJ, Natelson BH, Moldow R, Pogach L, Brennan FX, Ottenweller JE.
Persistent neuroendocrine changes in multiple hormonal axes after a single or
repeated stressor exposures. Stress, in press, 2000.

Ottenweller JE, Sisto SA, McCarty RC, Natelson BH. Hormonal responses to
exercise in chronic fatigue syndrome. Neuropsychobiology, 747, in press, 2000.