Biographical Info

Research Areas

Biochemical Pharmacology and Toxicology. A major focus of work has been to define events regulating the metabolism of drugs and foreign chemicals in intact cells and tissues. Emphasis has been directed primarily at the metabolism of biologically active compounds via Phase II conjugation reactions. Recent research projects include: identifying isoforms of sulfotransferase and sulfatase in neural tissue, and investigating their possible involvement in modulating levels and activities of neuorsteroids in the central nervous system; and, secondly using a unique model of estrogen-dependent mammary tumors in ACI rats to explore relationships between the metabolism of estradiol and the occurrence and progression of hormone-dependent breast tumors.

Scholarly Activities

• Fogarty Senior International Fellow, Department of Molecular Pathology, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School. University of Dundee, Scotland. Jan. 1995-Aug.1995, and subsequent summers 1996 and 1997.
• Visiting Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Escola Paulista de Medicina. Sao Paulo, Brazil. December, 1993-Feb. 1994
• Visiting Scholar, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Duke University. Summer, 1988.

Recent Publications

1. Mesia-Vela, S, Sanchez, RI, Roberts, KG, Reuhl, KR, Conney, AH, Kauffman, FC. Dietary clofibrate stimulates the formation and size of estradiol-induced breast tumors in female August-Copenhagen Irish (ACI) rats. Toxicology. 2008;246 (1):63-72. doi: 10.1016/j.tox.2007.12.025. PubMed PMID:18280627 PubMed Central PMC2441444
2. Stakhiv, TM, Mesia-Vela, S, Kauffman, FC. Phase II antioxidant enzyme activities in brain of male and female ACI rats treated chronically with estradiol. Brain Res. 2006;1104 (1):80-91. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2006.05.093. PubMed PMID:16822482
3. Mesia-Vela, S, Sanchez, RI, Reuhl, KR, Conney, AH, Kauffman, FC. Phenobarbital treatment inhibits the formation of estradiol-dependent mammary tumors in the August-Copenhagen Irish rat. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2006;317 (2):590-7. doi: 10.1124/jpet.105.096867. PubMed PMID:16421288
4. Kauffman, FC. Sulfonation in pharmacology and toxicology. Drug Metab Rev. 2004;36 (3-4):823-43. doi: 10.1081/dmr-200033496. PubMed PMID:15554249
5. Sanchez, RI, Mesia-Vela, S, Kauffman, FC. Induction of NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase and glutathione S-transferase activities in livers of female August-Copenhagen Irish rats treated chronically with estradiol: comparison with the Sprague-Dawley rat. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2003;87 (2-3):199-206. doi: 10.1016/j.jsbmb.2003.08.007. PubMed PMID:14672740
6. Mesia-Vela, S, Sanchez, RI, Li, JJ, Li, SA, Conney, AH, Kauffman, FC. Catechol estrogen formation in liver microsomes from female ACI and Sprague-Dawley rats: comparison of 2- and 4-hydroxylation revisited. Carcinogenesis. 2002;23 (8):1369-72. doi: 10.1093/carcin/23.8.1369. PubMed PMID:12151356
7. Pignatello, MA, Kauffman, FC, Levin, AA. Liarozole markedly increases all trans-retinoic acid toxicity in mouse limb bud cell cultures: a model to explain the potency of the aromatic retinoid (E)-4-[2-(5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-5,5,8,8-tetramethyl-2-naphthylenyl)-1-propenyl] benzoic acid. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2002;178 (3):186-94. doi: 10.1006/taap.2001.9340. PubMed PMID:11858735