Lih Kuo, PhD

Education and Training

• Tunghai University, Taiwan, BS, 1979
• National Taiwan University, 1983, MS
• Medical College of Virginia, PhD, 1987

Research Interests

• My research focuses on the physiological and pathophysiological regulation of coronary and retinal microcirculation. In the circulatory system, the amount of blood delivered to each tissue can be regulated by the activity of arterial microvessels (<100 µm in diameter). Changes in vascular tone, i.e., constriction or dilation of these microvessels, will decrease or increase blood supply to the tissue, respectively. However, the mechanisms involved in the regulation of vascular tone are not completely understood. Our current research focuses on the regulation of microvascular tone by hemodynamic (e.g., pressure and shear stress), metabolic (e.g., adenosine, osmolarity, K+, pH, pO2) and neural (adrenergic receptors) factors. The interplay among these factors and the underlying cellular/subcellular mechanisms in the integrative regulation of coronary and retinal microvascular function are studied. Based on this fundamental information, the pathophysiological disturbances of coronary microvascular function during disease states (e.g., atherosclerosis, septic shock, hypertension, diabetes, and ischemia-reperfusion injury) are investigated using various techniques and approaches including 1) cell culture and isolated vessel for assessing cellular and vascular function, 2) molecular analysis of protein and gene expression, 3) biochemical and pharmacological determination of signaling pathways, 4) fluorescence microscopy and immunohistochemistry for calcium signaling and protein localization, and 5) determination of gene activation and vascular remodeling. To have an integrative view on the flow regulation, this basic information are reconstructed using mathematical model and computer simulation technology. This research provides a basic foundation critical to our understanding of blood flow regulation in the microvascular network under normal and disease states.