Omid B. Rahimi, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
2000

(210) 567-3789
rahimi@UTHSCSA.EDU

Dr. Rahimi joined the Department of Cellular and Structural Biology in September 2004. He is assistant course director of Medical Gross Anatomy & Embryology and lecturer & laboratory instructor in Medical Neuroscience. He additionally co-directs senior medical student electives in Advanced Anatomy of the Back, Head & Neck, Advanced Anatomy of the Thorax, Abdomen & Pelvis, and Advanced Anatomy of the Extremities.

Dr. Rahimi has been involved with instruction of Gross Anatomy and Neuroscience to first year Medical and Graduate students since 2000. He is also active in development of interactive digital modules aimed to enhance teaching of gross anatomy (GATEways).

Dr. Rahimi’s research interests focus on morphological changes in neurons during development and aging. A hallmark of aging in humans is deficits in learning and memory. Recent data show that granule neurons in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampal formation - a region critical to proper function of certain types of memory - increase in size in the aged male mice as compared to adult mice (Figure 1). Granule neurons of dentate gyrus also undergo significant morphological changes over the first postnatal week in rat (Figure 2, Jones et al., 2003). Recent results show that synaptic activity is necessary for the normal progression of morphological changes during early postnatal development of granule neurons. The goal of this work is to determine factors that underlie normal neuronal development and to reveal relationships between deficits observed during aging and changes in neuronal structure.

PUBLICATIONS:
Moskal JR, Kroes RA, Otto NJ, Rahimi O, Claiborne BJ. (2006) Distinct patterns of gene expression in the left and right hippocampal formation of developing rats. Hippocampus. 16(8):629-34.

Jones SP, Rahimi O, O'Boyle MP, Diaz DL, Claiborne BJ. (2003) Maturation of granule cell dendrites after mossy fiber arrival in hippocampal field CA3. Hippocampus. 13(3):413-27.

Rahimi O, Juliano SL. (2001) Transplants of NGF-secreting fibroblasts restore stimulus-evoked activity in barrel cortex of basal-forebrain-lesioned rats.J Neurophysiol. Oct;86(4):2081-96.

Rahimi, O., Juliano, S.L. (2000). Nerve growth factor and cortical plasticity in adult barrel cortex: In plasticity of adult barrel cortex. Edited by M. Kossut. FP Graham publishing Co., Johnson city, TN. pp241-261.

Rahimi O, Eslin DE, Hill GF 2nd, Juliano SL. (1999) Nerve growth factor increases stimulus-evoked metabolic activity in acetylcholine-depleted barrel cortex. Somatosens Mot Res. 16(2):151-62.