- A401, Portland Square, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon, PL4 8AA
- +44 1752 584969
- nicola.king@plymouth.ac.uk
Profiles
Dr Nicola King
Lecturer in Cardiac Physiology
School of Biomedical & Healthcare Sciences (Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry)
Role
Lecturer in Cardiac Physiology
Qualifications
BSc Hons - Napier University, Edinburgh
PhD - Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Professional membership
British Society for Cardiovascular Research
Roles on external bodies
Former elected member of the executive board of the British Society for Cardiovascular Research
Teaching interests
Cardiac physiology, pathophysiology and pharmacology
I am module leader for:
BHCS1008: Cardiovascular and respiratory physiology
BHCS3001: Personal Research Project
BHCS3018: Specialist cardiovascular investigations
Research interests
The main focus of my research is the role of amino acids and dipeptides in the heart. In particular I concentrate on membrane transport, hypertrophy, and myocardial protection against oxidative stress and ischaemia reperfusion. Most recently I have been investigating the expression and role of glutathione peroxidases in the kidney with ageing and remote ischaemia pre-conditioning of the heart.
Grants & contracts
2009-2012 - The Brunei healthy heart projects: sourcing strategic Halal antioxidants. Brunei Government 1,440,000 BND
2007 - Can nurses and biomedical scientists learn and work interprofessionally? A pilot in Brunei for a comparative regional study. 1837.5 BND
2005-2007 - An investigation into the expression and activity of cysteine transporters in heart: relationship to glutathione synthesis and cardioprotection. British Heart Foundation (BHF) £126,200
2002-2004 - Amino acids and myocardial hypertrophy: expression, transport and protection. BHF Intermediate Fellowship £131,732
2002-2004 - An investigation into the expression and activity of the cystine-glutamate exchanger in relation to glutathione's role in myocardial protection. BHF £84,270
1999-2001 - An investigation into the cardioprotective action of glutamate and expression and regulation of its transporters in the heart. BHF Junior research fellowship. £66,410
1999-2001 - An investigation of the expression and regulation of glutamate and aspartate transporters in heart and their implications to myocardial protection. BHF £66,112
Editor:
RT-PCR Protocols: 2nd Ed (2010). For the series Methods in Molecular Biology. Springer Protocols, Humana Press, New Jersey, USA. ISBN: 978-1-60761-628.3
Book Chapters:
King N. (2012) "The human body: a nutrition perspective" in Wardlaw's Nutrition. 1st Australia/New Zealand Edition. Ed GM Wardlaw and AM Smith. McGrawHill, Sydney, Australia. ISBN: 9781743071465
King N. (2007). "Amino acids and mitochondria" in Mitochondria: the dynamic organelle for the series Avances in Biochemistry in Health and Disease. Ed S Schaffer and M-S Suleiman. Springer, New York, USA. ISBN: 9780387699448
Journal articles:
Daham AN., Al-Meshhadani MH., King N. (2017) Cardiac auscultation vs. two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography in the detection of native aortic and mitral valve disease in Erbil city. J Heart Cardiol. 3: 1-4.
King N. (2017) On vs. off pump coronary artery bypass grafting: the next chapter. Ann Transl Med. 5: 116-118.
Dieberg G., Smart NA., King N. (2016) On- vs. Off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Cardiol. 223:201-211.
Dieberg G., Smart NA., King N. (2016) Minimally invasive cardiac surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Cardiol. 226: 554-560.
Dieberg G., King N., McFarlane J., Smart NA. The effect of lifestyle therapy on liver function in overweight adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med. In press.
King N., Dieberg G., Smart NA. (2016). Effects of pre-procedural remote ischaemic pre-conditioning on the outcomes of elective percutaneous coronary interventions. A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Trials and Regulatory Science in Cardiology. 21:1-6.
King N., Van der Touw T., Spowart L., Lawlor C (2016). A scoping study investigating student perceptions towards inquiry based learning in the laboratory. Eur J Sci Math Ed. 4:304-315.
Thiab NR., King N., McMillan M., Almashhadany A., Jones GL. (2016) Age-related protein and mRNA expression of glutathione peroxidases (GPx) and Hsp-70 in different regions of rat kidney with and without stressor. AIMS Mol Sci. 3:1-X.
King N., Dieberg G., Smart NA (2016) Remote ischaemic pre-conditioning does not affect clinical outcomes following coronary artery bypass grafting. IJC Clinical Trials and Regulatory Science. 17:1-8.
Almashhadany A., Shakebaei D., Van der Touw T., Jones GL., Suleiman M-S., King N (2015) Homocysteine exposure impairs myocardial resistance to ischaemia reperfusion and oxidative stress. Cell Physiol Biochem. 37:2265-2274.
Thiab NR, King N., Jones GL (2015) Effect of ageing and oxidative stress on antioxidant enzyme activity in different regions of the rat kidney. Mol Cell Biochem. 408:253-260
Thiab NR., King N., Jones GL (2015) Effect of ageing on metabolite and oxidant concentrations in different regions of rat kidney under control and oxidative stress conditions. Mol Cell Biochem. 408:55-61.
Almashhadany A., Alghamdi OA., Van der Touw T., Jones GL., King N (2015) l-glycyl-l-glutamine provides the isolated and perfused young and middle aged rat protection against ischaemia-reperfusion injury. Amino Acids 47:1559-1565
King N., Al Shaama MA., Suleiman M-S (2012) Propofol improves recovery of the isolated working hypertrophic heart from ischaemia-reperfusion. Pflugers Arch 464:513-522
Alghamdi OA., King N (2012) Novel application of the dye, DiS-C3-(3) as a biosensor of the renal membrane potential difference. J Biosc Biochem Bioinfo 2:282-286
King N., Lin H., Suleiman M-S (2011) Oxidative stress stimulates SNAT1 expression and increases cysteine uptake into freshly isolated rat cardiomyocytes. Amino Acids 40:517-526
King N., Lin H., Suleiman M-S (2010) Cysteine protects freshly isolated cardiomyocytes against oxidative stress by stimulating glutathione peroxidase. Mol Cell Biochem 343:135-142
King N (2010) The use of comparative quantitative RT-PCR to measure the effect of cysteine incubation on GPx1 expression in isolated cardiomyocytes. Met Mol Biol 630:215-232
King N (2007) Measurement of cardiac gene expression by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Met Mol Biol 366:109-119
Lin H., King N (2007) Demonstration of functional dipeptide uptake into freshly isolated guinea-pig cardiomyocytes. Pflugers Archiv 453:915-922
King N., Lin H., McGivan JD., Suleiman M-S (2006) Glutamate transporter activity in hypertrophic rat heart and ischaemia-reperfusion injury. Pflugers Arch 452:674-682
Shackebaei D., King N., Shukla B., Suleiman M-S (2005) Mechanisms underlying the cardioprotective effect of L-cysteine. Mol Cell Biochem 277:27-31
King N., Lin H., McGivan JD., Suleiman M-S (2004) Aspartate transporter activity in hypertrophic rat heart and ischaemia-reperfusion injury. J Physiol 556:849-858
King N., Korolchuk S., McGivan JD., Suleiman M-S (2004) A new method for quantifying glutathione levels in freshly isolated single superfused rat cardiomyocytes. J Toxicol Pharmacol Met 50:215-222
King N., McGivan JD., Griffiths EJ., Halestrap., Suleiman M-S (2003) Glutamate loading protects freshly isolated and perfused adult rat cardiomyocytes from intracellular ROS generation. J Mol Cell Cardiol 35:975-984
King N., Suleiman M-S (2001) L-leucine transport in rate heart under normal conditions and effect of simulated hypoxia. Mol Cell Biochem 221:99-108
King N., Williams H., McGivan JD., Suleiman M-S (2001) Characteristics of l-aspartate transport and expression of EAAC-1 in sarcolemmal vesicles and isolated cells from rat heart. Cardiovasc Res 52:84-94
Williams H., King N., Griffiths EJ., Suleiman M-S (2001) Glutamate-loading stimulates metabolic flux and improves cell recovery following chemical hypoxia in isolated cardiomyocytes. J Mol Cell Cardiol 33:2109-2119
King N., Suleiman M-S (1998) Characteristics of l-alanine transport in cardiac sarcolemmal vesicles and into cardiac myocytes. Pflugers Arch 436:384-390
King N., Suleiman M-S (1998) A profile of taurine and alpha-amino acids in the hearts of thoroughbred horses with or without undergoing short-term exercise. Amino Acids 15:241-251
King N., Colledge WH., Ratcliff R., Evans MJ., Simmons NL (1997) The intrinsic Cl- conductance of mouse kidney cortex brush-border membrane vesicles is not related to CFTR. Pflugers Archiv 434:575-580
Brown CDA., King N., Simmons NL (1993) Coexpression of an anion conductance pathway with Na+-glucose co-transport in rat renal brush border membrane in vitro. Pflugers Archiv 423:406-410
Other publications:
King N., & Smart N (2008) Report on joint British Cardiac and British Society for Cardiovascular Research (BSCR) Conference. The Bulletin (BSCR) 21:16-20.
King N (2007) Postcard from Brunei. The Bulletin (BSCR) 20:19-22