Zidong Fu

Graduate Student - Klaassen Lab
B.S., Life Science Honors Program, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

I am from Liaoning province in China. I received my bachelor degree in life sciences after three year undergraduate study in honors program in China Agricultural University. I came to KUMC in fall, 2008. After one year IGPBS course study and research rotation, I joined the laboratory of Dr. Curtis Klaassen to pursue my Ph.D. degree.

Research Interests

My research project is to investigate the effect of aging as well as the anti-aging intervention calorie restriction on drug and nutrient metabolism. Liver is a master organ for drug processing, which is coordinately regulated by various drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters. The efficacy and toxicity of many drugs vary among people of different ages. One possible mechanism is aging alters the capabilities of drug metabolism and transport in liver, which leads to altered hepatic uptake, drug activation and detoxification, and bile or urinary excretion of drugs. Therefore, it is important to characterize the expression profiles of drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters in liver during aging. Bile acids are signaling molecules that regulate the homeostasis of glucose, lipids, and energy. Utilizing the UPLC-MS/MS technique that is recently developed in our lab for bile acid profiling, I am able to investigate the effect of aging on bile acid enterohepatic circulation. Calorie restriction is the best known anti-aging intervention in mammals.  The exact mechanism how calorie restriction can increase lifespan still remains elusive. It is also my research interest to determine the effect of calorie restriction on drug metabolism and bile acid homeostasis. The results will provide some valuable information to the mechanism study of the anti-aging effects of calorie restriction as well as the physiology and pharmacology of people on diet.

Selected Publications

Fu, Z.D., Csanaky, I.L., and Klaassen, C.D.: Gender-divergent profile of bile acid homeostasis during aging of mice. PLoS One. 7: e32551, 2012. PMID: 22403674, PMCID: PMC3293819

Fu, Z.D., Csanaky, I.L., and Klaassen, C.D.: Effect of aging on mRNA profiles of drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters in livers of male and female mice. Drug Metab Dispos. 40: 1216-1225, 2012. PMID: 22446518, PMCID: PMC3362785

Cui, J.Y., Aleksunes, L.M., Tanaka, Y., Fu, Z.D., Guo, Y., Guo, G.L., Lu, H., Zhong, X.B., and Klaassen, C.D.: Bile acids via FXR initiate the expression of major transporters involved in the enterohepatic circulation of bile acids in newborn mice. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 302: G979-96, 2012. PMID: 22268101, PMCID: PMC3362079