Research

The Keil lab is focused on understanding the impact of the environment on the establishment and regulation of urinary function. In particular we are focused on developmental exposure to environmental contaminants. One environmental contaminant of interest to our lab includes the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). PCBs are ubiquitous environmental contaminants, and while they are known to have deleterious effects on the developing brain and central nervous system, their effects on the peripheral nervous system and peripheral target tissues – such as the bladder – are not understood. Therefore, we are using a combination of in vitro and in vivo approaches in mice to identify the effects of PCBs on urinary function focusing not only on bladder innervation and physiology but also on input from the central nervous system and dorsal root ganglia which are critical in controlling urinary function. Our ultimate goal is to be able to identify targets for therapeutic intervention and/or identify critical windows of exposure to help mitigate risk.

Publications

• Wang Z, Guzman EC, Nimunkar A, Keil KP, Vezina CM, Ricke WA, Macoska J, Bjorling DE (2019). Void Sorcerer: an Open Source, Open Access Framework for Mouse Uroflowmetry. Am J Clin Exp Urol. 7(3):170-177. PMCID – PMC6627548
• Keil KP, Sethi S, Lein PJ. (2018). Sex differences in dendrite morphology in response to 2,2′,3,5′,6-pentachlorobiphenyl (PCB 95) in cultured primary mouse neurons. Tox Sci. doi: 10.1093/toxsci/kfy277. In Press. PMCID – PMC6390665
• Wilson MD, Sethi S, Lein PJ, Keil KP. (2017). Valid statistical approaches for analyzing sholl data: mixed effects versus simple linear models. J. Neurosci Methods. 279:33-43. PMCID – PMC5346342.
• Keil KP, Sethi S, Wilson MD, Chen H, Lein PJ (2017). Dendritic morphology varies between sexes in juvenile mice and in vitro models of neurodevelopment. Sci Rep. 7(1): 8486. PMCID – PMC5559594.
• Keil KP, Abler LL, Altmann HM, Wang Z, Wang P, Ricke WA, Bjorling DE, Vezina CM. (2015). Impact of a folic acid enriched diet on lower urinary tract function in mice treated with testosterone and estradiol. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 308(12): 1431-43. PMCID – PMC4469891.