Department of Veterinary Medicine

Research in Veterinary Medicine

Research description

The Gibson laboratory is interested in how cells carry out ion and water homeostasis, and how this homeostasis may be perturbed in disease. In particular, we examine the regulation and activity of key membrane transporters. Focus has been mainly concerned with the red cell. Projects include altered ion balance in sickle cell disease, the effects of oxidants and that of intraerthrocytic parasites such as Babesia. In addition, we also work on articular chondrocytes, with their unique avascular and hyperosmotic environment. For both of these cell types, oxygen tension has important consequences on ionic balance. Latterly, work has also concerned how altered transport affects exposure of phosphatidylserine on the surface of red cells, and thereby alters their ability to traverse the microvasculature.

Main collaborators

• Prof Clive Ellory, University of Oxford
• Dr Robert Wilkins, University of Oxford
• Prof Clinton Joiner, Cincinnati Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center
• Prof Pat Gallagher, Yale Medical School
• Prof Andy Cossins, University of Liverpool
• Dr David Rees, King's College Hospital London

Key publications since 2001

• Gibson, J. S., Milner, P. I., White, R., Fairfax, T. P. A. & Wilkins, R. J. (2007). Oxygen and reactive oxygen species in articular cartilage: modulation of ionic homeostasis. Pflugers Archiv In press.
• Browning, J. A., Staines, H. M., Robinson, H. C., Powell, T., Ellory, J. C. & Gibson, J. S. (2007). The effect of deoxygenation on whole-cell conductance of red blood cells from normal individuals and sickle cell patients. Blood 109, 2622-2629.
• Browning, J. A., Robinson, H. C., Ellory, J. C. & Gibson, J. S. (2007). Deoxygenation-induced non-electrolyte pathway in red cells from sickle cell patients. Cell. Physiol. Biochem. 19, 165-174.
• Milner, P. I., Fairfax, T. P. A., Browning, J. A., Wilkins, R. J. & Gibson, J. S. (2006). The effect of oxygen tension on pH homeostasis in equine articular chondrocytes. Arthritis Rheum. 54, 3523-3532.
• Muzyamba, M. C., Campbell, E. H. & Gibson, J. S. (2006). The effect of intracellular magnesium on oxygen-dependent KCl cotransport in normal and sickle human red blood cells. Cell. Physiol. Biochem. 17, 121-128.
• Lloyd, S., Irvine, K. L., Eves, S. M. & Gibson, J. S. (2005). Fluid absorption in the small intestine of healthy game birds and those infected with Spironucleosus spp. Avian Pathology 34, 252-257.
• Gibson, J. S., Muzyamba, M. C. & Ellory, J. C. (2003). Effect of phenazine methosulphate on K+ transport in normal human red blood cells. Cell. Physiol. Biochem. 13, 329-336.
• Muzyamba, M. C. & Gibson, J. S. (2003). Effect of of 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene on K+ transport in human red blood cells. J. Physiol. 547, 903-911.
• Gibson, J. S. & Ellory, J. C. (2002). Membrane transport in sickle cell disease. Blood Cells, Molecules and Disease 28, 1-12.
• Gibson, J. S., Speake, P. F., Khan, A. & Ellory, J. C. (2001). Oxygen dependence of K+ transport in sickle cells: effect of density fractionation and the substituted benzaldehyde, 12C79. Faseb J. 15, 823-832.