a ll Species Face e xposure to toxic Chemicals

When he needs a refresher course on why he chose this line of work, OSU toxicologist Dr. Carey Pope need only reflect back more than 30 years to a college lab assignment. That’s when, as a graduate student, he watched one of his classmates at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, wrangle cockroaches to map their nervous system.

His classmate lured the unsuspecting insects with a slice of apple into a Vaseline-smeared glass jar. Then, he’d capture them, anesthetize them and inject a dye into a nerve. Pope chose to study pesticides keeping in mind how he would explain his decision to his father.

“If I had told him, ‘I’m studying how the cockroach nervous system works,’ he would probably have said, ‘Why in the world are you studying that?’ But by telling him, ‘I’m trying to figure out how organophosphate insecticides work,’ he understood why I was interested,” Pope says.

Pope, working with his wife, research scientist Dr. Jing Liu Pope, examines the effects of the pesticides in use today — some 50 million pounds per year, he says, despite the stricter regulations of 1996.

Their toxic effects with acute exposures are identical to those of nerve agents such as those used in the Iran-

Iraq War and those found on munitions and destroyed in Iraq after the Gulf War, Pope says. But, less is known about their long-term effects.

Pope and his team study the long-term effects of these types of chemicals, and recently they’ve focused on a possible link between the chemicals and disorders including depression and anxiety. Other research includes studies of drugs that may be more effective than the common antidote for organophosphate poisoning, atropine.

Atropine is widely stocked in hospitals throughout the country, but he believes it may actually exaggerate the long-term effects of these chemicals. He is studying cannabinoids, which are chemicals similar to the active ingredient in marijuana, as a possible key to blocking the pesticides’ toxicity.

Pope, who holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology from the University of Texas, began his postdoctoral career in 1985 at Baylor University Medical Center in Houston. His work then took him to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park.

In 1989, he joined the University of Louisiana at Monroe, where he taught in the College of Pharmacy and directed its toxicology division. He came to OSU’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences in 2000.

Pope, who says he’s found a good home in OSU, is a Regents Professor, the Sitlington Chair in Toxicology and head of the physiological sciences department. He started the Sitlington Lecture in Toxicology, a research seminar series to feature prominent toxicologists and promote toxicology research at the university. He also finds time to teach in both the professional and graduate programs.

“Our vet school has had a long history of toxicology expertise,” he says. “Domestic species — dogs, cats, cattle — all get exposed to chemicals. Toxicology is an important field for veterinary medicine.”

Matt eLLiott