Nadia Lunardi
Department of Anesthesiology
University of Virginia Health System
Nadia Lunardi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, VA. She received her M.D. cum lauda degree, completed residency in Anesthesiology and earned a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
During her Ph.D. studies, she focused on characterizing the neurotoxic mechanisms of commonly used intravenous and inhaled anesthetics during early stages of brain development, under the guidance of Dr. Vesna Jevtovic-Todorovic and Dr. Alev Erisir at the University of Virginia. Early in her Ph.D., she developed a special interest in the use of quantitative electron microscopy to study the deleterious effects of anesthetics on the ultrastructure of the neuropil, synapse density and morphology, mitochondria and other cytoplasmic organelles.
After completing a fellowship in Critical Care, Dr. Lunardi was recruited as faculty in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Virginia. Since then, she has pursued the goal of complementing her earlier quantitative ultrastructural findings of altered synaptic morphology with the study of synapse function, by developing skills in electrophysiology recording of synaptic transmission and electroencephalography measurement of cortical oscillations.
Dr. Lunardi received a K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award
from the NIH in 2017. Her research program encompasses the use of electroencephalography, electrophysiology and electron microscopy in neonatal rats and elderly mice to investigate how anesthetic drugs induce synaptic dysregulation and affect circuit-level brain function, ultimately leading to postoperative cognitive dysfunction.
General anesthesia causes long-lasting disturbances in the ultrastructural properties of developing synapses in young rats.
Neurotoxicity research Feb, 2010 | Pubmed ID: 19626389
Early Exposure to General Anesthesia Disrupts Spatial Organization of Presynaptic Vesicles in Nerve Terminals of the Developing Rat Subiculum.
Molecular neurobiology Oct, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26048670
Neonatal anesthesia impairs synapsin 1 and synaptotagmin 1, two key regulators of synaptic vesicle docking and fusion.
Neuroreport 05, 2019 | Pubmed ID: 30964765
Isoflurane impairs immature astroglia development in vitro: the role of actin cytoskeleton.
Journal of neuropathology and experimental neurology Apr, 2011 | Pubmed ID: 21412172
General Anesthesia Causes Long-term Impairment of Mitochondrial Morphogenesis and Synaptic Transmission in Developing Rat Brain.
Anesthesiology Nov, 2011 | Pubmed ID: 21909020
Immunohistological demonstration of CaV3.2 T-type voltage-gated calcium channel expression in soma of dorsal root ganglion neurons and peripheral axons of rat and mouse.
Neuroscience Oct, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 23867767
Hyperexcitability of rat thalamocortical networks after exposure to general anesthesia during brain development.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience Jan, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25632125
Early Exposure to General Anesthesia with Isoflurane Downregulates Inhibitory Synaptic Neurotransmission in the Rat Thalamus.
Molecular neurobiology Oct, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26048671
Effective and Safe Use of Glucocorticosteroids for Rescue of Late ARDS.
Case reports in critical care , 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28337348
Disruption of Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Homeostasis in Adolescent Rats after Neonatal Anesthesia.
Anesthesiology Jun, 2019 | Pubmed ID: 30946702
The Flaw of Medicine: Addressing Racial and Gender Disparities in Critical Care.
Anesthesiology clinics Jun, 2020 | Pubmed ID: 32336389
Two Sides of the Same Coin: Addressing Racial and Gender Disparities Among Physicians and the Impact on the Community They Serve.
Anesthesiology clinics Jun, 2020 | Pubmed ID: 32336390
Surgery, Anesthesia and Intensive Care Environment Induce Delirium-Like Behaviors and Impairment of Synaptic Function-Related Gene Expression in Aged Mice.
Frontiers in aging neuroscience , 2020 | Pubmed ID: 33088271
Preclinical and translational models for delirium: Recommendations for future research from the NIDUS delirium network.
Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association May, 2023 | Pubmed ID: 36799408
Sleep Fragmentation, Electroencephalographic Slowing, and Circadian Disarray in a Mouse Model for Intensive Care Unit Delirium.
Anesthesia and analgesia Jul, 2023 | Pubmed ID: 37192134
Serotonin Syndrome After Prolonged Remifentanil and Propofol Infusion for Craniotomy: A Case Report.
A&A practice Jun, 2024 | Pubmed ID: 38836561
Adenosine 2A Receptor Agonism Improves Survival in Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.
The Journal of surgical research Sep, 2024 | Pubmed ID: 39029264
Acute Single-Unit Multi-Electrode Recordings from the Brainstem of Head-Fixed Mice
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