Center for Resuscitation Science

Cynthia M. Otto, DVM, PhD

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Graduate Group Affiliations

Contact information
2066 Ryan Veterinary Hospital
3900 Delancy Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6010
Office: (215) 898-3390
Fax: (215) 573-5060
Education:
BS (Animal Science)
Ohio State University, 1984.
DVM (Veterinary Medicine)
The Ohio State University, 1986.
PhD (Veterinary Physiology)
University of Georgia, 1994.
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Description of Research Expertise

Research Interests:

-Regulation of nitric oxide synthesis.
-Intermittent hypoxia as an inflammatory stimulus.
-Acute lung injury

Keywords:

Nitric oxide, cell culture, macrophages, endothelial cells, cardiac myoctyes, drosophila, acute lung injury, rabbits, inflammation, gene expression.

Research Summary:

The effects of intermittent hypoxia on regulation of inflammatory mediators.
This project which is no longer active used stringently controlled oxygen tensions and real time NO measurements to investigate the mechanism by which intermittent hypoxia alters inflammatory mediators. We used several different models to evaluate the pathways involved in signaling.

In our whole animal investigation of intermittent hypoxia, we studied a saline lavage model of acute lung injury in rabbits, we have identified marked oscillations in arterial oxygen tension with every breath (high frequency intermittent hypoxia). We have demonstrated that these oscillations are associated with an inflammatory response in the lungs of the rabbits.

Possible Lab Rotation Projects:

non currently available

Description of Clinical Expertise

Board certified in veterinary emergency and critical care, my main clinical responsibility is as an attending in the veterinary emergency service at the Ryan veterinary hospital. My primary clinical research interests encompass naturally occurring animal diseases as models of human and animal disease with an emphasis on inflammation, sepsis and trauma. I am currently the director of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center which is actively researching the genetic and behavioral components of success in detection dogs. I am also a former member of the Veterinary Clinical Investigation Center, the primary resource for conducting veterinary clinical trials at the University of Pennsylvania.

Selected Publications

Robinson, MA, Baumgardner, JE, Good, VP, Otto, CM: Physiological and hypoxic O-2 tensions rapidly regulate NO production by stimulated macrophages. American Journal Of Physiology-cell Physiology 294(4): C1079-C1087, APR 2008.

Otto, CM, Markstaller, K, Kajikawa, O, Karmrodt, J, Syring, RS, Pfeiffer, B, Good, VP, Frevert, CW, Baumgardner, JE: Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of ventilator-associated lung injury after surfactant depletion. Journal Of Applied Physiology 104(5): 1485-1494, MAY 2008.

Otto CM : Clinical Trials in Spontaneous Disease in Dogs: A New Paradigm for Investigations of Sepsis. J Vet Emerg Crit Care 17(4):359-367, 2007. 17(4): 359-367, Dec 2007.

Alwood, AJ, Downend, AB, Brooks, MB, Slensky, KA, Fox, JA, Simpson, SA, Waddell, LS, Baumgardner, JE, Otto, CM: Anticoagulant effects of low-molecular-weight heparins in healthy cats. Journal Of Veterinary Internal Medicine 21(3): 378-387, MAY-JUN 2007.

Syring, RS, Otto, CM, Spivack, RE, Markstaller, K, Baumgardner, JE: Maintenance of end-expiratory recruitment with increased respiratory rate after saline-lavage lung injury. Journal Of Applied Physiology 102(1): 331-339, JAN 2007.

Pfeiffer, Birgit. Syring, Rebecca S. Markstaller, Klaus. Otto, Cynthia M. Baumgardner, James E.: The implications of arterial Po2 oscillations for conventional arterial blood gas analysis. Anesthesia & Analgesia 102(6): 1758-64, Jun 2006.

Otto, CM, Downend, AB, Serpell, JA, Ziemer, LS, Saunders, HM: Medical and behavioral surveillance of dogs deployed to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon from October 2001 to June 2002. Journal Of The American Veterinary Medical Association 225(6): 861-867, SEP 15 2004.

Slensky, KA, Drobatz, KJ, Downend, AB, Otto, CM: Deployment morbidity among search-and-rescue dogs used after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Journal Of The American Veterinary Medical Association 225(6): 868-873, SEP 15 2004.

Baumgardner, JE, Otto, CM: In vitro intermittent hypoxia: challenges for creating hypoxia in cell culture. Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology 136(2-3): 131-139, JUL 16 2003.

Baumgardner, JE, Markstaller, K, Pfeiffer, B, Doebrich, M, Otto, CM: Effects of respiratory rate, plateau pressure, and positive end-expiratory pressure on Pa-o2 oscillations after saline lavage. American Journal Of Respiratory And Critical Care Medicine 166(12): 1556-1562, DEC 15 2002.

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Last updated: 12/24/2011
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