Sleep Home Page

Levente Kapás, M.D.
Associate Professor

Department of Biological Sciences
Fordham University
441 E. Fordham Road
Bronx, NY 10458

E-mail: kapas@fordham.edu
Phone: 718-817-3891
Fax: 718-817-3645

Selected Publications

Research Interest

Kapás, L., F. Obál, Jr., P. Alföldi, G. Rubicsek, B. Penke, and F. Obál. Effects of nocturnal intraperitoneal administration of cholecystokinin in rats: simultaneous increase in sleep, increase in EEG slow-wave activity, reduction of motor activity, suppression of eating, and decrease in brain temperature. Brain Res. 438: 155-164, 1988.

Kapás, L., L. Payne, F. Obál, Jr., M. Opp, L. Johannsen, and J. M. Krueger. Sleep in diabetic rats: effects of interleukin 1. Am. J. Physiol. 260: R995-R999, 1991.

Kapás, L., L. Hong, A. Cady, M. R. Opp, A. E. Postlethwaite, J. M. Seyer, and J. M. Krueger. Somnogenic, pyrogenic, and anorectic activities of tumor necrosis factora (TNFa), and TNFa fragments. Am. J. Physiol. 263: R708-R715, 1992.

Kapás, L., M. Shibata, M. Kimura, and J. M. Krueger. Inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis suppresses sleep in rabbits. Am. J. Physiol. 266: R151-R157, 1994.

Kapás, L., F. Obál Jr., A. A. Book, J. B. Schweitzer, R. G. Wiley, and J. M. Krueger. The effects of immunolesion of nerve growth factor-receptive neurons by 192 IgG-saporin on sleep, Brain Res., 712:53-59, 1996.

Kapás, L. and J. M. Krueger. Nitric oxide donors SIN-1 and SNAP promote nonrapid-eye- movement sleep in rats. Brain Res. Bull. 41:293-298, 1996.

Ayers, N.A, L. Kapás, and J. M. Krueger. Circadian variation of nitric oxide synthase activity and cytosolic protein levels in rat brain. Brain Res. 707:127-130, 1996.

Chang, H.-Y. and L. Kapás. The effects of CCK-4 and non-sulfated CCK-8 on sleep, EEG slow-wave activity and brain temperature in rats, Physiol. Behav., 62:175-179, 1997.

Hansen, M., L. Kapás, J. Fang, and J. M. Krueger. Cafeteria diet-induced sleep is blocked by subdiaphragmatic vagotomy in rats, Am. J. Physiol., 274:R168-R174, 1998.

Obál, F. Jr., L. Kapás, B. Bodosi, and J. M. Krueger. Changes in sleep response to intracerebral injection of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in the rat, Sleep Res. Online, 1:87-91, 1998.

Kapás, L., M. K. Hansen, H.-Y. Chang, and J. M. Krueger. Vagotomy attenuates but does not prevent the somnogenic and febrile effects of lipopolysaccharide in rats, Am. J. Physiol., 274: R406-R411, 1998.

Roky, R., L. Kapás, P. Taishi, J. Fang, and J.M. Krueger. Food restriction alters the diurnal distribution of sleep in rats. Physiol. Behav., 67:697-703, 1999.

Ribeiro, A. C, J. Gilligan, and L. Kapás. Systemic injection of a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor suppresses sleep responses to sleep deprivation in rats. Am. J. Physiol., 278:R1048-R1056, 2000.

Full List of Publications
Medline List of Publications

Recent Abstracts

APSS Meeting 2000
APSS Meeting 2001

The research in my laboratory is focused on the biochemical – hormonal mechanisms of sleep regulation. Currently, there are two major areas of studies. The first addresses the role of nitric oxide in homeostatic and circadian regulation of sleep. Our laboratory was the first to describe that inhibitors of nitric oxide synthase suppress sleep, nitric oxide donors stimulate sleep, and the activity of nitric oxide synthase shows a diurnal variation. The second project addresses the role of gastrointestinal hormones in sleep regulation. We hypothesize that somnogenic gastrointestinal hormones such as cholecystokinin and insulin form a regulatory network and modulate vigilance in various forms of satiety.

Biographical Sketch

EDUCATION:
1979-1985:	Szeged Medical University, Hungary (today: University of Szeged, Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical and Pharmaceutical Center), 1985: M.D., summa cum laude
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
1985 - 1989:	Instructor, Department of Physiology, Szeged Medical University, Hungary
1989 - 1992:	Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Tennessee, Health Science Center, Memphis
1992 - 1996:	Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Tennessee, Memphis, TN
1996 - present:	Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Fordham University, New York

The Lab	Teaching	My Mentors
Current lab members Past lab members	Human Physiology Endocrinology	Ferenc Obál James Krueger