DOMINIC M. DESIDERIO
PROFESSOR

EDUCATION:
B.A. 1961, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
M.S. 1964, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
PhD. 1965, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

RESEARCH INTERESTS: We are currently investigating the general field of neuropeptidergic processing and corresponding pathophysiologies. The three precursors of the opioid peptides (enkephalins, endorphins, dynorphins) and the precursors to the tachykinins (substance P) are of interest. We are analyzing the endogenous amounts of individual neuropeptides in human tissues (brain, pituitary, tooth pulp) and fluids (CSF) in post-mortem control and post-surgical pathophysiological samples. Analytical methodology optimizes detection sensitivity and molecular specificity and uses reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), radioimmunoassay (RIA), radioreceptorassay (RRA), fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FAB-MS), electrospray (ES) ionization, and tandem MS/MS methods. MS/MS methods significantly increase the molecular specificity of this novel combined analytical method. We have demonstrated, for the first time, that stress mobilizes the endogenous neuropeptidergic pathways in the human trigeminal system, and that a hypometabolism of the POMC neuropeptide system exists in human anterior non-secreting tumors.

RESEARCH SUPPORT:
R01 NIH GM 26666 "Mass Spectrometry of Biologically Important Peptides" September 1, 1989 - August 31, 1996; $1,481,931
P01 NIH NIDA DA08924 "Opioid Peptide Analogs as Obstetrical Analgesics" September 1, 1994 - August 31, 1997; Direct costs: $168,044
R01 NIH DE11125 "Inactivation of lipopoly saccharide by neutrophils" September 1, 1994 - August 31, 1998; Direct costs: $7,693 (PI, Michael Pabst)

GRADUATE STUDENTS:
University of Tennessee, Memphis: Peter Tinsley, Ph.D., 1988; Jerry Lovelace, Ph.D., 1991; Zhu Xuegong, Ph.D., 1993; Robert Becklin, current student.

PUBLICATIONS: Only selected publications appearing since 1993 are listed out of a total of 206.
185. Kaneko, T. Wood, G., Crouch, W.L., and Desiderio, D.M. (1993) Assay of preproenkephalin A processing enzymes in human lumbar cerebrospinal fluid. Anal. Biochem., 215, 45-53.
186. Kaneko, T., Wood, G., Crouch, W.L., and Desiderio, D.M. (1994) Substance P inactivating enzymes in human cerebrospinal fluid. Peptides, 15, 41-47.
187.Desiderio, D.M. (Ed.). (1994) Mass Spectrometry: Clinical and Biomedical Applications, Volume 2. New York, NY: Plenum Press.
188.Desiderio, D.M. (1994) Biological Mass Spectrometry: Present and Future. (T. Matsuo, R.M. Caprioli, M.L. Gross, and U. Seyama, Ed.), West Sussex, England: John Wiley Publishers, 345-354.
189.Yan, L., Tseng, J.L., Fridland, G.H., and Desiderio, D.M. (1994) Characterization of an opioid peptide-containing protein and of bovine a-lactalbumin by electrospray ionization and liquid secondary ion mass spectrometry. J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom., 5, 377-386 .
190.Lee, H.G. and Desiderio, D.M. (1994) Capillary zone electrophoresis of synthetic opioid peptides. J. Chrom. A, 666, 271-283.
191.Lee, H.G. and Desiderio, D.M. (1994) Capillary zone electrophoresis of two synthetic neuropeptides: an examination of detectability and resolution as a function of peptide concentration and buffer concentration. J. Chrom. B, 655, 9-19 .
192.Zhu., X. and Desiderio, D.M. (1994) Effects of Space Flight Stress on Proopiomelanocortin, Proenkephalin A, and Tachykinin Neuropeptidergic Systems in the Rat Posterior Pituitary. Life Sci., 55, 347-350 .
193.Fridland, G. and Desiderio, D.M. (1994) Detection of bovine pituitary opioid precursors in chromatographic fractions using trypsin and cyanogen bromide treatment of fraction aliquots followed by radioimmunoassay. Anal. Lett., 27, 2117-2125.
194Zhu, X. and Desiderio, D.M. (1994) Peptidase Inhibitors are not Necessary in the Analysis of Neuropeptides. Anal. Lett., 27, 2267-2280 .
195.Yan, L., Tseng, J.-L., and Desiderio, D.M. (1994) Mass Spectrometric Detection of Preproen-kephalin A-derived Peptides in Bovine Pituitary. Life Sci., 55, 1937-1944.
196.Lee, H.G. and Desiderio, D.M. (1994) Optimization of the loading limit for capillary zone electrophoresis of synthetic opioid and tachykinin peptides: a study of the interactions among the amount of peptide, resolution, saturation, injection volume, and capillary diameter. J. Chrom. B., 662, 35-45.
197.Lee, H.G. and Desiderio, D.M. (1994) Preparative Capillary Zone Electrophoresis of Synthetic Peptides: Conversion of an Autosampler in to a Fraction Collector, J. Chrom. A, 686, 309-317.
198.Everett, K.E.D., Desiderio, D.M., and Hatch, T.P. (1994) Characterization of Lipoprotein EnvA in Chlamydia psittaci 6BC. J. Bacteriol, 176, 6082-6087.
199.Desiderio, D.M. (1994) Analysis of Neuropeptides in Human Anterior Pituitary Tumors. In I. Matsumoto, T. Kuhara, O.A. Mamer, L. Sweetman, and R.G. Calderhead (Eds.), Advances in Chemical Diagnosis and Treatment of Metabolic Disorders, Volume 2.. (pp. 155-166). West Sussex, England: John Wiley Publishers.
200. Desiderio, D.M., Yan, L., and Tseng, J.-L. (1994) Electrospray mass spectrometry analysis of opioid peptide-containing proteins. Reg. Pept., 54, 83-84.
201.Tseng, J.-L., Yan, L., and Desiderio, D.M. (1994) Tandem Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Synthetic Opioid Peptide Analogs, Rapid Commun. Mass. Spectrom., 9, 264-275.
202. Yan, L., Tseng, J.-L., and Desiderio, D.M. (1994) Detection and characterization of native b-endorphin1-31 in bovine pituitary using electrospray ionization, liquid secondary ion, and tandem mass spectrometry. J. Mass Spectrom., 30, 531-540 .
203.Agbas, A., Ahmed, M.S., Millington, W., Cemerikic, B., Desiderio, D.M., and Dass, C. (1995) Dynorphin A1-18 in human placenta amino acid sequence determined by tandem mass spectrometry. Peptides, 16, 623-627.
204.Lee, H.G., Huffmon, G.V., Becklin, R.R., Tseng, J.-L. Soble-Smith, J., Robertson, J.R., and Desiderio, D.M. (1995) Capillary reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography determination of exogenously-administered acetyl-methylprednisolone in feline spinal cord.
J. Chrom. B, 667, 259-267.
205.Grigoriants, O.O., Pravdenkova, S.V., Andersen, B.J., and Desiderio, D.M. (1995) Alteration of opioid peptide concentrations in the rat pituitary following survivable closed head injury. Neurochem. Res., 20, 827-831.
206.Lee, H.G., Tseng, J.L., Becklin, R.R., and Desiderio, D.M. (1995) Multi-dimensional preparative and analytical capillary zone electrophoresis analysis of native endorphins and enkephalins extracted from the bovine pituitary: Mass spectrometric confirmation of the molecular weight of leucine enkephalin. Anal. Biochem., 229, 188-197.