Physicians

Departments / Divisions

• Medicine / Medicine-Pulmonary
• Community and Family Medicine

Address
DUMC 3282
Durham, NC 27710

Appointment Telephone
919-668-7630

Office Telephone
919-668-3889

Fax Telephone
919-668-3227

Training

• MD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, 1985

Residency

• Internal Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, 1986-1988
• Pulmonary Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, 1988-1990

Clinical Interests
Asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary neoplasms, interstitial lung disease, allergy, critical care medicine

Research Interests

The primary focus of my research is reactive gas dosimetry. The main body of work has involved using O-labeled nitrogen oxide to perform dosimetric analysis on rodents. O is a radioistope with a half-life of 2.04 minutes produced in the DUMC  cyclotron. This N1502 is expoed to mice, rats guinea pigs and hamsters, either free breathing or on mechanical ventilation. A number of bronchoalveolar lavage studies have been performed demonstrating the high solubility of radiolabeled N02 in the aqueous but not lipid fraction of lung tissue. the distribution of N 1502 uptake throughout the entire respiratory tract has been mapped. Similar studies will be performed using )-labeled ozone. Additional studies have been performed using phosgene, which is a highly reactive chamical intermediate used in industry. Microdissection of lung tissue at the junction between the bronchial and the alveolar region demonstrated that this gas produced a toxic thickening in the epithelium, in the most proximal regions of the alveolar regions. This effect dissipated as the gas moved distally. This indicates that the highly reactive gas was taken up in the proximal regions leaving a lower concentration in the distal regions. This affect is magnified by the fact that the surface area of the alveolar region increases moving distally. Furture work will involve looking at injury in the alveolar region induced by inhaled particles and dosimetry of inhaled particles throughout the respiratory tract

Industry Relationships and Collaborations (What's this?)

This physician has no reported relationships with industry.

Representative Publications
2) Mercer RR, ML Russell, VL Roggli, and JD Crapo. Cell number and distribution in human and rat airways. Am J Resp Cell and Mol Biol 10: 613-624. 1994. (1994)

5) Mercer RR, ML Russell and JD Crapo. Alveolar septal structure in different species. J Applied Physiol 77(3): 10-60- 1066, 1994. (1994)

I) Miller FJ, JH Overton, JS Kimbell and ML Russell. Regional respiratory tract absorption of inhaled reactive gases. In: Toxicology of the Lung Second Edition. pp. 485-526, 1994. (1994)

3) Mercer RR, ML Russell and JD Crapo. Radon dosimetry based on the depth distribution of nuclei in human and rat lungs. Health Physics 61: 117-130, 1991. (1991)

4) Uphouse L and ML Russell. Rapid effects of acrylamide on spiroperidol and serotonin binding in neural tissue. Neurobehav Toxicol Teratol 3:281-284, 1981. (1981)