Faculty Profile

Carlos Blanco-Centurion, PhD


Instructor in Neurology, Harvard Medical School
Instructor, Department of Neurology, VA Boston Healthcare System
Instructor, Brigham and Women's Hospital

See publications


Address

1400 VFW Parkway
Building 3, Room 2C109
West Roxbury, MA 02132
USA

Inter-office Mail Address

VA Medical Center West Roxbury, R&D 151

Phone 617-323-7700 Ext 36161
Fax 857-203-5717

Email carlos_blanco-centurion@hms.harvard.edu

Society Memberships

Sleep Research Society
Society for Neuroscience

Research Unit(s)

Molecular Sleep Laboratory
Department of Research and Development

Research Interests

My main two research interest are
i) understanding the neurocircuitry underlying the principal symptoms of narcolepsy and
ii) brain changes (structural and functional) occurring in the old mammals resulting in the decline of sleep-wake stages.
Particularly I have been investigating on the effects of exercise to restore normal sleep-wake patterns in old rats.

Mentor(s)

Priyattam J. Shiromani, PhD

Recent Awards
Awards and Honors:
2007     Young Investigator Award, Sleep Research Society for "Adenosine and Sleep Homeostasis in the Basal Forebrain" in The Journal of Neuroscience, 26(31): 8092-8100. 

Selected Publications


Kaur S, Thankachan S, Begum S, Liu M, Blanco-Centurion C, Shiromani PJ. Hypocretin-2 saporin lesions of the ventrolateral periaquaductal gray (vlPAG) increase REM sleep in hypocretin knockout mice.
PLoS One. 2009 Jul 22;4(7):e6346. [PMID: 19623260]

Liu M, Thankachan S, Kaur S, Begum S, Blanco-Centurion C, Sakurai T, Yanagisawa M, Neve R, Shiromani PJ. Orexin (hypocretin) gene transfer diminishes  narcoleptic sleep behavior in mice.
Eur J Neurosci. 2008 Oct;28(7):1382-93.[PMID: 18973565]

Murillo-Rodriguez E, Liu M, Blanco-Centurion C, Shiromani PJ. Effects of hypocretin (orexin) neuronal loss on sleep and extracellular adenosine levels in  the rat basal forebrain.
Eur J Neurosci. 2008 Sep;28(6):1191-8. [PMID: 18783368]

Kaur S, Thankachan S, Begum S, Blanco-Centurion C, Sakurai T, Yanagisawa M, Shiromani PJ. Entrainment of temperature and activity rhythms to restricted feeding in orexin knock out mice.
Brain Res. 2008 Apr 18;1205:47-54. [PMID: 18343358]

Blanco-Centurion C, Gerashchenko D, Shiromani PJ. Effects of saporin-induced lesions of three arousal populations on daily levels of sleep and wake.
J Neurosci. 2007 Dec 19;27(51):14041-8. [PMID: 18094243]

Blanco-Centurion C, Gerashchenko D, Shiromani PJ. Effects of saporin-induced lesions of three arousal populations on daily levels of sleep and wake.
J Neurosci. 2007 Dec 19;27(51):14041-8. [PMID: 18094243]

Zhang S, Lin L, Kaur S, Thankachan S, Blanco-Centurion C, Yanagisawa M, Mignot E, Shiromani PJ. The development of hypocretin (orexin) deficiency in hypocretin/ataxin-3 transgenic rats.
Neuroscience. 2007 Aug 10;148(1):34-43. [PMID: 17618058]

Blanco-Centurion CA, Shiromani PJ. Beneficial effects of regular exercise on sleep in old F344 rats.
Neurobiol Aging. 2006 Dec;27(12):1859-69. [PMID: 16309796]

Blanco-Centurion CA, Shiromani A, Winston E, Shiromani PJ. Effects of hypocretin-1 in 192-IgG-saporin-lesioned rats.
Eur J Neurosci. 2006 Oct;24(7):2084-8. [PMID: 17067305]

Blanco-Centurion C, Xu M, Murillo-Rodriguez E, Gerashchenko D, Shiromani AM,
Salin-Pascual RJ, Hof PR, Shiromani PJ.  Adenosine and sleep homeostasis in the Basal forebrain.
J Neurosci. 2006 Aug 2;26(31):8092-100. [PMID: 16885223]

Gerashchenko D, Blanco-Centurion CA, Miller JD, Shiromani PJ. Insomnia following hypocretin2-saporin lesions of the substantia nigra.
Neuroscience. 2006;137(1):29-36. Epub 2005 Nov 11. [PMID: 16289583]

Blanco-Centurion CA, Shiromani PJ. Beneficial effects of regular exercise on sleep in old F344 rats.
Neurobiol Aging. 2005 Nov 21; [Epub ahead of print] [PMID: 16309796]

Arias-Carrion O, Murillo-Rodriguez E, Xu M, Blanco-Centurion C,Drucker-Colin R, Shiromani PJ. Transplantation of hypocretin neurons into the pontine reticular formation:
preliminary results.
Sleep. 2004 Dec 15;27(8):1465-70. [PMID: 15683135]

Gerashchenko D, Chou TC, Blanco-Centurion CA, Saper CB, Shiromani PJ. Effects of lesions of the histaminergic tuberomammillary nucleus on spontaneous sleep in rats.
Sleep. 2004 Nov 1;27(7):1275-81. [PMID: 15586780]

Blanco-Centurion C, Gerashchenko D, Salin-Pascual RJ, Shiromani PJ. Effects of hypocretin2-saporin and antidopamine-beta-hydroxylase-saporin neurotoxic lesions of the dorsolateral pons on sleep and muscle tone.
Eur J Neurosci. 2004 May;19(10):2741-52. [PMID: 15147308]

Murillo-Rodriguez E, Blanco-Centurion C, Gerashchenko D, Salin-Pascual RJ, Shiromani PJ. The diurnal rhythm of adenosine levels in the basal forebrain of young and old rats.
Neuroscience. 2004;123(2):361-70. [PMID: 14698744]

Murillo-Rodriguez E, Blanco-Centurion C, Sanchez C, Piomelli D, Shiromani PJ. Anandamide enhances extracellular levels of adenosine and induces sleep: an in vivo microdialysis study.
Sleep. 2003 Dec 15;26(8):943-7. [PMID: 14746372]

Gerashchenko D, Blanco-Centurion C, Greco MA, Shiromani PJ. Effects of lateral hypothalamic lesion with the neurotoxin hypocretin-2-saporin on sleep in Long-Evans rats.
Neuroscience. 2003;116(1):223-35. [PMID: 12535955]

Blanco-Centurion CA, Salin-Pascual RJ. Extracellular serotonin levels in the medullary reticular formation during normal sleep and after REM sleep deprivation.
Brain Res. 2001 Dec 27;923(1-2):128-36. [PMID: 11743980]

Salin-Pascual R, Gerashchenko D, Greco M, Blanco-Centurion C, Shiromani PJ. Hypothalamic regulation of sleep.
Neuropsychopharmacology. 2001 Nov;25(5 Suppl):S21-7. Review. [PMID: 11682269]

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