Department of Animal Science
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Dr. Cun Li
Associate Research Professor | Texas Pregnancy & Life-course Health Research Center, Southwest National Primate Research Center
M.D., Harbin Medical University, P.R. China, 1980
Email: cunli1@gmail.com
Phone: 210-258-9271
Research Interests:
I have worked on issues of brain development in rats, sheep, nonhuman primates, and
humans for over 30 years. Both in China as a clinician and in the USA as a basic investigator,
I am committed to understanding mechanisms underlying impaired human fetal brain growth
and function by using comparative animal models, especially sheep and nonhuman primate
models. Currently, my interests are on the effects of both maternal under- and over-nutrition
and exposure to levels of glucocorticoids higher than is appropriate for the current
stage of fetal development on programming of brain development and metabolism.
Selected Publications:
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Transcriptomal changes and functional annotation of the developing non-human primate
choroid plexus.
Ek CJ, Nathanielsz P, Li C, Mallard C. Front Neurosci. 9:82, 2015.
PMID 25814924
-
Impaired development of fetal serotonergic neurons in intrauterine growth restricted
baboons.
Ye W, Xie L, Li C, Nathanielsz PW, Thompson BJ. J Med Primatol 2014;43(4):284-287.
PMID 25431504
-
Expression of the placental transcriptome in maternal nutrient reduction in baboons
is dependent on fetal sex.
Cox LA, Li C, Glenn JP, Lange K, Spradling KD, Nathanielsz PW, Jansson T. J. Nutr. 2013;143(11):1698-1708, 2013.
PMID 24047701
-
Sexually dimorphic effects of maternal nutrient reduction on expression of genes regulating
cortisol metabolism in fetal baboon adipose and liver tissues.
Guo C, Li C, Myatt L, Nathanielsz PW, Sun K. Diabetes 62(4):1175-1185, 2013.
PMID 23238295
-
Intrauterine growth restriction alters term fetal baboon hypothalamic appetitive peptide
balance.
Li C, McDonald TJ, Wu G, Nijland MJ, Nathanielsz PW. J Endocrinol. 217(3):275-282, 2013.
PMID 23482706
-
Up-regulation of the fetal baboon hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis in intrauterine
growth restriction: Coincidence with hypothalamic glucocorticoid receptor insensitivity
and leptin receptor down-regulation.
Li C, Ramahi E, Nijland MJ, Choi J, Myers DA, Nathanielsz PW, McDonald TJ. Endocrinology 154(7):2365-2373, 2013.
PMID 23625543
-
Effects of maternal nutrient restriction, intrauterine growth restriction, and glucocorticoid
exposure on phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase-1 expression in fetal baboon hepatocytes
in vitro.
Li C, Shu Z-J, Lee S, Gupta MB, Jansson T, Nathanielsz PW, Kamat A. J. Med. Primatol. 42(4):211-219, 2013.
PMID 23600855
-
The frontal cortex IGF system is down regulated in the term, intrauterine growth restricted
fetal baboon.
Xie L, Antonow-Schlorke I, Schwab M, McDonald TJ, Nathanielsz PW, Li C. Growth Horm. IGF Res. 23(5):187-192, 2013.
PMID 23911858
-
Vulnerability of the fetal primate brain to moderate reduction in maternal global
nutrient availability.
Antonow-Schlorke I, Schwab M, Cox LA, Li C, Stuchlik K, Witte OW, Nathanielsz PW, McDonald TJ. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108(7):
3011-3016, 2011.
PMID 21252306.
-
Emergence of insulin resistance in juvenile baboon offspring of mothers exposed to
moderate maternal nutrient reduction.
Choi J, Li C, McDonald TJ, Comuzzie AG, Mattern V, Nathanielsz PW. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp
Physiol 301(3): R757-R762, 2011.
PMID 21653880.
-
Moderate global reduction in maternal nutrition has differential stage of gestation
specific effects on β 1- and β 2-adrenergic receptors in the fetal baboon liver.
Kamat A, Nijland MJ, McDonald TJ, Cox LA, Nathanielsz PW, Li C. Reprod Sci 18(4): 398-405, 2011.
PMID 21079239.
-
Epigenetic modification of fetal baboon hepatic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase
following exposure to moderately reduced nutrient availability.
Nijland MJ, Mitsuya K, Li C, Ford S, McDonald TJ, Nathanielsz PW, Cox LA. J Physiol 588(8):1349-1359, 2010.
PMID 20176628
-
Feto-placental Adaptations to Maternal Obesity in the Baboon.
Farley D, Tejero ME, Comuzzie AG, Higgins PB, Cox L, Werner SL, Jenkins SL, Li C, Choi J, Dick EJ Jr, Hubbard GB, Frost P, Dudley DJ, Ballesteros B, Wu G, Nathanielsz,
PW, Schlabritz-Loutsevitch NE. Placenta 30(9): 752-60, 2009.
PMID 19632719
-
Effects of maternal global nutrient restriction on fetal baboon hepatic IGF system
genes and gene products.
Li C, Schlabritz-Loutsevitch NE, Hubbard GB, Han V, Nygard K, Cox LA, McDonald TJ, Nathanielsz
PW. Endocrinology 150(10): 4634-42, 2009.
PMID 19574404
-
The prolonged effect of repeated maternal glucocorticoid exposure on the maternal
and fetal leptin/insulin-like growth factor axis in Papio species.
Schlabritz-Loutsevitch NE, Lopez-Alvarenga JC, Comuzzie AG, Miller MM, Ford SP, Li C, Hubbard GB, Ferry RJ, Jr., Nathanielsz PW. Reprod Sci 16(3): 308-19, 2009.
PMID 19087979
-
The IGF axis in baboon pregnancy: placental and systemic responses to feeding 70%
global ad libitum diet.
Li, C., Levitz, M., Hubbard, G.B., Jenkins, S.L., Han, V., Ferry, R.J., Jr., McDonald, T.J.,
Nathanielsz, P.W., Schlabritz-Loutsevitch, N.E. Placenta 28(11-12): 1200-1210, 2007.
PMID 17707905
-
Source of corticotropin-releasing hormone-like innervation of the adrenal glands of
fetal and postnatal sheep.
Li C, McDonald TJ. Brain Res. 767(1):87-91, 1997.
PMID 9365019