Profile

Academic community:
1994 – Chinese Medical Association, Branch EndocrinologyMember
2007 –The Chinese Society for NeuroscienceMember
2008 – Zhejiang Association for Physiological SciencesMember
2009-Dutch Neurofederation and Federation of European Neuroscience Society Member
2012-Research Center for Consciousness Science and the Estern Tradition Vice director
2012-    Program committee member of The Biennial International Symposium on Neurobiology and Neuroendocrinology of Aging, Bregenz, Austria, started 1992.

Education and professional record：
Education:
1989Bachelor (Medicine, Anhui Medical University, P.R. China)
1997M.D. (Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Anhui Medical University, P.R. China).
2003Ph.D. (Department of Neurobiology, School of Life Science, University of Science and Technology of China)
Professional record
Clinical work
The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, PR China
1989-1994Resident, chief resident
1994-2002Attending Physician, Dept. Endocrinology and Metabolism
2002-2007Senior Physician, Dept. Endocrinology and Metabolism
Research work
2002.3-2002.11PhD researcher at the NIBR, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2004.3-2007.10Post-Doc researcher at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2005.11-2007.10 Guest professor of Neurobiology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine

2007.10-present Professor of Neurobiology, Ph.D program supervisor, Zhejiang University School of Medicine

Research direction and features:
Research direction:
1. Neuroendocrinological mechanism involved in neuropsychiatric disorders
2. Biological rhythms

Research features:
Our team use (1) cell and animal models that are validated in the clinical situation, (2) body fluids (blood, saliva and CSF) as well as brain-imaging data of living patients, and (3) postmortem brain material and body fluids from the Netherlands Brain Bank to investigate functional alterations that underlie the signs and symptoms of neuropsychiatric diseases. Our goal is to offer new strategies together with new targets for therapy.
The focus for the coming 5-years of our project will be on depression, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia and sex differences in the brain that play a role in many of the symptoms of these disorders. Techniques used are clinical studies, hormone and transmitter assays, quantitative immunocytochemistry, quantitative in situ hybridization and laser dissection microscopy followed by QPCR. Meanwhile, biological rhythms of hormones and neurotrasmitters measured during the physiological or pathological situations will be further studied.

Present projects: (in charge/as supervisor)
1) Interaction among the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the aminergic systems and the hypothalamus in the pathogenesis of depression (China Exchange Programme of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 08CDP012, 09CDP011)

3) Imbalance between Glutamate and γ－aminobutyric acid in depression (Nature Science Foundation of China (30970928))

4) The development of a rat depression model based upon an aromatase disorder: validation on the postmortem human brain (Science and Technology Department of Zhejiang Province, (2009C34020))

5) Nitric oxide - Estrogen pathway in depression: a study on postmortem human tissue (Nature Science Foundation of China (31271130)


Main publications in recent 3 years (* corresponding author):
1) Shan L, Swaab DF, Bao AM*. Neuronal histaminergic system in aging and age-related neurodegenerative disorders. Exp Gerontol. 2012 Aug 11. [Epub ahead of print]
2) Gao SF, Qi XR, Zhao J, Balesar R, Swaab DF, Bao AM. Decreased nNOS expression in anterior cingulate cortex in depression. Cereb. Cortex (2012, in press)
3）Zhao J, Bao AM, Qi XR, Kamphuis W, Luchetti S, Lou JS, Swaab DF. Gene expression of GABA and glutamate pathway markers in the prefrontal cortex of non-suicidal elderly depressed patients. J Affect Disord. 2012 May; 138(3): 494-502.
4) Swaab DF, Bao AM, Garcia-Falgueras A, Hofman MA, Ishunina1 TA. Sex differences in the human forebrain. Human Nervous System 3th edition Eds J. Mai and G. Paximos. Academic Press/Elsevier 2012. Chapter 21, 739-758.
5) Bao AM*, Ruhé HG, Gao SF, Swaab DF. Neurotransmitters and neuropeptides in depression. In: Handbook of Clinical Neurology. Vol.105, M.J. Aminoff, Boller,F., Swaab, DF, eds. Elsevier Series edts, and Schlaepfer T.E. and Nemeroff C.B. Volume edts, Amsterdam. 2012, 107-136.
6) Shan L, Hofman MA, van Wamelen DJ, Van Someren EJW, Bao AM*, Swaab DF. Diurnal fluctuation in histidine decarboxylase expression, the rate limiting enzyme for histamine production, and its disorder in neurodegenerative diseases. Sleep 2012, 35(5): 713-715.
7) Shan L, Bossers K, Unmehopa U, Bao AM*, Swaab DF. Alterations in the histaminergic system in Alzheimer’s disease: a postmortem study. Neurobiol Aging. 33 (2012) 2585-2598 Jan 25. [Epub ahead of print]
8) Shan L, Bossers K, Luchetti S, Balesar R, Lethbridge N, Chazot PL, Bao AM*, Swaab DF. Alterations in the histaminergic system in the substantia nigra and striatum of Parkinson's patients: a postmortem study. Neurobiol Aging. 33 (2012) 1488.e1–1488.e13.
9) Shan L, Liu CQ, Balesar R, Hofman MA, Bao AM*, Swaab DF. Neuronal histamine production remains unaltered in Parkinson's disease despite the accumulation of Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites in the tuberomamillary nucleus. Neurobiol Aging. 33 (2012) 1343–1344.
10) Bao AM*, Swaab DF. Sexual differentiation of the human brain: Relation to gender-identity, sexual orientation and neuropsychiatric disorders. Front Neuroendocrinol. 2011 Apr;32(2):214-26.
11) Van Wamelen DJ, Shan L, Aziz NA, Anink JJ, Bao AM, Roos RA, Swaab DF. Functional Increase of Brain Histaminergic Signaling in Huntington's Disease. Brain Pathol. 2011 Jul;21(4):419-27.
12) Bao AM*, Swaab DF. Sex differences in the brain, behavior and neuropsychiatric disorders. Neuroscientist. 2010 Oct;16 (5):550-65. Review.
13) Swaab DF, Bao AM*. (Re-)activation of neurons in aging and dementia: lessons from the hypothalamus. Exp Gerontol. 2011 Feb-Mar; 46(2-3):178-84. Epub 2010 Sep 15.
14) Liu CQ, Shan L, Balesar R, Luchetti S, Van Heerikhuize JJ, Luo JH, Swaab DF, Bao AM*. A quantitative in situ hybridization protocol for formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded archival postmortem human brain tissue. Methods. 2010 Dec; 52(4):359-66. Epub 2010 Jul 16.
15) Bao AM*, Swaab DF. Corticotrophin-releasing hormone and arginine vasopressin in depression: focus on the human postmortem hypothalamus. Vitamins and Hormones, Volume 81- Hormones of the Limbic System. Edt. Gerry Litwack, Academic Press/Elsevier 2010; 82:339-65.
16) Gao SF, Bao AM*. Corticotropin-releasing hormone, glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid in depression. Neuroscientist 2011;17(1):124-44.
17) Chen XN, Meng QY, Bao AM, Swaab DF, Wang GH, Zhou JN. The Involvement of Retinoic Acid Receptor-alpha in Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone Gene Expression and Affective Disorders. Biol Psychiatry. 2009 Nov 1; 66(9):832-9. Epub 2009 Jul 12.
18) Bao AM*, Lucassen PJ, Swaab DF. The Neuroendocrinology of Psychiatric Disorders. Encyclopedic Reference of Neursocience. Edts. M.d.Binder, N.Hirokawa and U.Windhorst. Springer Verlag 2009, 2641-2645.