Carl L. Faingold is an American neuroscientist who is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of

Pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Southern Illinois University School of Medicine is a medical school located in Springfield, the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois. It is part of the Southern Illinois University system, which includes a campus in Edwardsville as well as the ...

in Springfield, Illinois; he is a founding faculty member of both the department and the School of Medicine. He has had an extensive career as a medical and graduate student educator as well as a researcher into brain mechanisms. He is a specialist in the actions of drugs on brain activity at the level of the single neuron as it relates to networks of neurons in awake behaving animals.

Education

Faingold received his B.S. in Pharmacy from the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a Public university, public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus esta ...

in 1965, and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

in 1970. This was followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

Institute of Psychiatry. He is a long-time member of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics ASPET, the Research Society on Alcoholism RSA, the American Epilepsy Society (AES), and the Society for Neuroscience (SfN).

Research interests

A major research direction in Faingold’s lab is in the area of

sudden unexpected death in epilepsy Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is a fatal complication of epilepsy. It is defined as the sudden and unexpected, non-traumatic and non-drowning death of a person with epilepsy, without a toxicological or anatomical cause of death dete ...

(SUDEP), which is a devastating and relatively rare problem that can occur in patients with epilepsy. Since first publishing about a mouse model of SUDEP in 2006 in DBA mice,S. Tupal and C. L. Faingold. Evidence supporting a role of serotonin in modulation of sudden death induced by seizures in DBA/2 mice. ''Epilepsia'' 47 (1):21-26, 2006. His lab has explored the role of brain chemicals,

serotonin Serotonin () or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) is a monoamine neurotransmitter. Its biological function is complex and multifaceted, modulating mood, cognition, reward, learning, memory, and numerous physiological processes such as vomiting and vas ...

and

adenosine Adenosine ( symbol A) is an organic compound that occurs widely in nature in the form of diverse derivatives. The molecule consists of an adenine attached to a ribose via a β-N9-glycosidic bond. Adenosine is one of the four nucleoside building ...

, in potential preventative treatments for SUDEP in these mice, including a possible role of agents that enhance the action of serotonin in SUDEP prevention. These agents include

selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a class of drugs that are typically used as antidepressants in the treatment of major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, and other psychological conditions. SSRIs increase the extracell ...

(SSRIs) which prevent SUDEP in mice with some evidence of potential usefulness in human epileptic patients as well. His lab has published several recent papers on the subject of SUDEP prevention in two mouse models of SUDEP in DBA/1 and DBA/2 mice.

Publications

He has participated in the writing of the "AMSPC Knowledge Objectives in Pharmacology" as co-editor with Richard Eisenberg, . of the 2012 update and expansion of these pharmacology teaching objectives. He also served as co-editor of ''Brody’s Human Pharmacology''] with Lynn Wecker, George Dunaway, Lynn Crespo and Stephanie Watts. Faingold in (2014) published a book with co-editor,

Hal Blumenfeld Hal Blumenfeld (born March 28, 1962) is a Professor of Neurology, Neuroscience, and Neurosurgery at Yale University. He is an expert on brain mechanisms of consciousness and on altered consciousness in epilepsy. As director of the Yale Clinical Ne ...

, Professor of Neurology, Neuroscience and Neurosurgery at Yale University School of Medicine.''Neuronal Networks in Brain Function, CNS Disorders, and Therapeutics''Faingold, Carl, and Hal Blumenfeld. Neuronal Networks in Brain Function, CNS Disorders, and Therapeutics. London: Academic Press, 2014. Most recently he and co-author Huajun Feng of Harvard University authored a major paper on a Unified Theory Of Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy in the journal Epilepsia in 2023.

Awards

Faingold was named Distinguished Scholar of the

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of Tr ...

system in 2009.

* Uteshev, V.V., S. Tupal, Y. Mhaskar, and C. L. Faingold. Abnormal serotonin receptor expression in DBA/2 mice associated with susceptibility to sudden death due to respiratory arrest. ''Epilepsy Res''. 88, pp. 183–188, 2010 * Faingold, C.L., Tupal, S. and Randall, M. Prevention of seizure-induced sudden death in a chronic SUDEP model by semichronic administration of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. ''Epilepsy Behav.'', 22:186-190, 2011. * Faingold, C.L., Randall, M. Mhaskar, Y. and Uteshev, V. V.. Differences in serotonin receptor expression in the brainstem may explain the differential ability of a serotonin agonist to block seizure-induced sudden death in DBA/2 vs. DBA/1 mice. ''Brain Res.'', 1418:104-110, 2011. * Faingold CL, Tupal S, Mhaskar Y, Uteshev VV. DBA mice as models of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. IN: '' Sudden Death in Epilepsy: Forensic and Clinical Issue'', (C. Lathers, P. Schraeder, M. Bungo, J. Leestma, editors), Taylor and Francis, 657-674, 2010. * Faingold CL. Brainstem networks: reticulo-cortical synchronization in generalized convulsive seizures. In: Noebels JL, Avoli M, Rogawski MA, Olsen RW, Delgado-Escueta AV, eds. Jasper's Basic Mechanisms of the Epilepsies. 4th ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2012: 257-271. Bethesda (MD): National Center for Biotechnology Information (US). Available from: http://preview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK82044/. * Feng, H.J., Faingold, C.L. Ketamine in mood disorders and epilepsy. In: Costa A and Villalba E, eds. ''Horizons in Neuroscience Research'', Vol. 10. P. 103-122, Nova Science Publishers, New York, 2013. Tupal, S. and Faingold, C.L. The amygdala to periaqueductal gray pathway: Plastic changes induced by audiogenic kindling and reversal by gabapentin. Brain Res. 1475:71-79, 2012. 112. Faingold, C.L. and Randall, M. Effects of age, sex and sertraline administration on seizure-induced respiratory arrest in the DBA/1 mouse model of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). Epilepsy Behav. 28:78-82, 2013. 113. Faingold, C.L. Kommajosyula, S.P., Long, X., Plath, K., Randall, M. Serotonin and sudden death: Differential effects of serotonergic drugs on seizure-induced respiratory arrest in DBA/1 mice. Epilepsy Behav. 37:198-203, 2014. 114. Zeng, C., Long, X., Cotten, J.F., Forman, S.A., Solt, K., Faingold, C.L., and Feng, H.J. Fluoxetine prevents respiratory arrest without enhancing ventilation in DBA/1 mice. Epilepsy Behav. 45:1-7, 2015. 115. Kommajosyula, SP, Randall, ME, Faingold, CL. Inhibition of adenosine metabolism induces changes in post-ictal depression, respiration, and mortality in genetically epilepsy prone rats. Epilepsy Res. 119:13-19, 2016. 116. Faingold. C.L., Randall, M., and Kommajosyula, S.P. Susceptibility to Seizure-Induced Sudden Death in DBA/2 Mice is Altered by Adenosine. Epilepsy Res. 124: 49–54, 2016. 117. Kommajosyula, S.P., Randall, M.E., Tupal, S., and Faingold, C.L., Alcohol withdrawal in epileptic rats — Effects on postictal depression, respiration, and death, Epilepsy & Behavior 64 (2016) 9–14. 118. Faingold CL, Randall M, Zeng C, Peng S, Long X, Feng HJ, Serotonergic agents act on 5-HT3 receptors in the brain to block seizure-induced respiratory arrest in the DBA/1 mouse model of SUDEP. Epilepsy Behav. 64(Pt A):166-170, 2016. 119. Samineni, V.K, Premkumar, L.S., Faingold, C.L., Neuropathic pain induced enhancement of spontaneous and pain evoked neuronal activity in the periaqueductal gray that is attenuated by gabapentin, Pain. 158(7):1241-1253, 2017. 120. Kommajosyula, S.P., Randall, M.E., Brozoski, T.J., Odintsov, B.M. and Faingold, C.L., Specific subcortical structures are activated during seizure-induced death in a model of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP): A manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging study. Epilepsy Res 135:87-94. 2017. 121. Zhang H, Zhao H, Zeng C, Van Dort C, Faingold CL, Taylor NE, Solt K, Feng HJ., Optogenetic activation of 5-HT neurons in the dorsal raphe suppresses seizure-induced respiratory arrest and produces anticonvulsant effect in the DBA/1 mouse SUDEP model. Neurobiol Dis. 110:47-58, 2018. 122. Murugesan, et al., Faingold, C.L., Devinsky, O, Lisa M. Bateman, L.M., Richerson, G, and Lhatoo, S.D., Serum serotonin levels in patients with epileptic seizures, Epilepsia, 59, (6) e91-e97, 2018 123. Smith, M.R., Faingold, C. Mellinger, J.D., Possible Drug-nutraceutical Interaction leading to Unexpected Sequelae after Inguinal Hernia Repair, American Journal of Case Reports Am J Case Rep. 2018 Jul 17;19:836-838. 124. Kommajosyula SP, Tupal S, Faingold CL. Deficient post-ictal cardiorespiratory compensatory mechanisms mediated by the periaqueductal gray may lead to death in a mouse model of SUDEP. Epilepsy Res. 2018 Nov;147:1-8 125. Tupal, S. and Faingold, C.L. Fenfluramine, a serotonin‐releasing drug, prevents seizure‐induced respiratory arrest and is anticonvulsant in the DBA/1 mouse model of SUDEP. Epilepsia 2019 Mar: 60(3), 485-494. 126. Kommajosyula, S.P. and Faingold, C.L. Neural activity in the periaqueductal gray and other specific subcortical structures is enhanced when a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor selectively prevents seizure‐induced sudden death in the DBA/1 mouse model of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. Epilepsia 2019, 160(6) 1221-1233. 127. White, P. and Faingold, C.L. Emergent antidepressant discontinuation syndrome misdiagnosed as delirium in the ICU. Case Reports in Critical Care, 2019 Aug 4;2019:3925438. 128. Murugesan A, Rani MRS, Vilella L, Lacuey N, Hampson JP, Faingold CL, Friedman D, Devinsky O, Sainju RK, Schuele S, Diehl B, Nei M, Harper RM, Bateman LM, Richerson G, Lhatoo SD. Postictal serotonin levels are associated with peri-ictal apnea. Neurology. 2019 Oct 8;93(15):e1485-e1494. 129. Schilling WP, McGrath MK, Yang T, Glazebrook PA, Faingold CL, Kunze DL. Simultaneous cardiac and respiratory inhibition during seizure precedes death in the DBA/1 audiogenic mouse model of SUDEP PLoS One. 2019 Oct 21;14(10):e0223468. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223468. eCollection 2019. 130. Tupal, S and Faingold, Cl, Serotonin 5-HT4 receptors play a critical role in the action of fenfluramine to block seizure-induced sudden death in a mouse model of SUDEP, Epilepsy Research 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2021.106777 Faingold CL, Feng HJ. A unified hypothesis of SUDEP: Seizure-induced respiratory depression induced by adenosine may lead to SUDEP but can be prevented by autoresuscitation and other restorative respiratory response mechanisms mediated by the action of serotonin on the periaqueductal gray. Epilepsia. 2023 Epub 2023 Feb 15. PMID: 36715572

References

External links