The Wise Laboratory of Liver and Environmental Health

About

The Wise Laboratory of Liver and Environmental Health seeks to develop insight into how environmental toxicants affect health and cause disease, focusing on environmental liver disease. Chronic liver disease kills over 2 million people in the United States each year. However, despite advances at the bench and in the clinic, the prevalence of the most common chronic liver disease, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), has doubled over the last two decades and remains on the rise. In our laboratory we take novel approaches to investigate liver disease, such as studying chromosome instability, a form of genomic instability that occurs when a cell has an abnormal number of chromosomes or altered chromosome structure, and most recently, investigating liver-brain crosstalk. Studies include investigating how sex and age modulate these effects while promoting advances in risk assessment and management of two environmental chemicals of major health concern: hexavalent chromium, an established human carcinogen and inducer of chromosome instability, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, established metabolic toxicants associated with hepatic lipid dysregulation and accumulation. Our research spans molecular, cellular, animal and population-based studies with the goal of providing a platform for the creation of novel target therapies and diagnostic tools.

Research Areas

Environmental Liver Disease
Metal-Induced Diseases
Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances
Chromosome Instability
Liver-Brain Crosstalk
Gerotogens/Age

Team

Morgan Delnicki, PhD Candidate, T32 Fellow, morgan.delnicki@louisville.edu
Gabby Griffin, PhD Candidate, T32 Fellow, gabrielle.griffin@louisville.edu

Recent Publications

Bolatimi, O.E., Head, K.Z., Luo, J., Gripshover, T.C., Lin, Q., Adiele, N., Watson, W.H., Wilkerson, C., Cai, L., Cave, M.C. & Young, J.L. (2023). Can Zinc Supplementation Attenuate High Fat Diet-Induced Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease? International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 24(2), 1763. PMID: 36675277 PMCID: PMC9864360.
Saedi, S., Watson, S.E., Young, J.L., Tan, Y., Wintergerst, K.A., and Cai, L. (2023). Does maternal low-dose cadmium exposure increase the risk of offspring to develop metabolic syndrome and/or type 2 diabetes?. Life Sciences. 315, 121385. PMID: 36634865 PMCID: PMC9912173.
Xin, Y., Wise, J.Y.,* Rajesh, M., and Cai, L. (2024). Editorial: Cardiovascular diseases related to diabetes and obesity - volume III. Frontiers in Endocrinology. 15, 1381446. PMID: 38414820 PMCID: PMC10897048. *Co-corresponding author
Wise, J.T.F., Lu, H., Meaza, I., Wise, S.S., Williams, A.R., Young Wise, J.L., and Wise, Sr., J.P. (2024). Prolonged Particulate Hexavalent Chromium Exposure Induces DNA Double Strand Breaks but Inhibits Homologous Recombination Repair in Primary Rodent Lung Cells. Biological Trace Element Research. 202(12), 5653–5663. PMID: 38499919 PMCID: PMC11408706.
Lu, H., Wise, S.S., Speer, R.M., Croom-Pérez, T. J., Toyoda, J.H., Meaza, I., Williams, A., Wise, Jr., J.P., Kouokam, J.C., Wise, J.L.Y., Hoyle, G., Zhu, C., and Wise, Sr., J.P. (2024). Acute Particulate Hexavalent Chromium Exposure Induces DNA Double Strand Breaks and Activates Homologous Recombination Repair in Rat Lung Tissue. Toxicological Sciences. 201(1), 1–13. PMID: 38867691 PMCID: PMC11347773.
Vielee, S.T., Isibor, J., Buchanan, W.J., Roof, S.H., Patel, M., Meaza, I., Williams, A., Toyoda, J.H., Lu, H., Wise, S.S., Kouokam, J.C., Young Wise, J.L., El-Makarim, A., Abouiessa, Cai, J., Cai, L., Wise, Jr., J.P. (2024). Employing a Toxic Aging Coin Approach to Assess Hexavalent Chromium (Cr[VI])-Induced Neurotoxic Effects on Behavior: Heads for Age Differences. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology. (489):117007.
Samala, N., Kulkarni, M., Lele, R.S., Gripshover, T.C., Young Wise, J., Chalasani, N.P., Rai, S.N., and Cave, M.C. (2024). Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance exposures are associated with liver steatosis and fibrosis in adult National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2017-2018. Toxicological Sciences.202(1), 142–151. PMID: 39150893 PMCID: PMC11514833.
Vielee, S.T., Isibor, J., Buchanan, W.J., Roof, S.H., Patel, M., Meaza, I., Williams, A., Toyoda, J.H., Lu, H., Wise, S.S., Kouokam, J.C., Young Wise, J.L., El-Makarim, A., Abouiessa, Cai, J., Cai, L., Wise, Jr., J.P. (2024). Female Rat Behavior Effects from Low Levels of Hexavalent Chromium (Cr[VI]) in Drinking Water Evaluated with a Toxic Aging Coin Approach.Applied Sciences. 14(14):6206. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14146206.
Vielee, S.T., Buchanan, W.J., Roof, S.H., Kahloon, R., Evans, E., Isibor, J., Patel, M., Meaza, I., Lu, H., Williams, A. R., Kouokam, J.C., Wise, S.S., Guo, L., Wise, R.M., Wise, J.L., Cai, L., Cai, J., & Wise, J.P., Jr (2024). Chromium Selectively Accumulates in the Rat Hippocampus after 90 Days of Exposure to Cr(VI) in Drinking Water and Induces Age- and Sex-Dependent Metal Dyshomeostasis. Toxics. 12(10), 722. PMCID: PMC11510846 PMID: 39453142
Lu, H., Wise, S.S., Toyoda, J.H., Speer, R.M., Croom-Perez, T.J., Meaza, I., Kouokam, J. C., Wise, J.L., Hoyle, G., Chen, N., Wise, J.P., Jr, Kondo, K., Toba, H., Takizawa, H., & Wise, J.P., Sr. (2025). Particulate hexavalent chromium exposure induces DNA double-strand breaks and inhibits homologous recombination repair in rat and human lung tissues. Chemosphere. 370, 143982. PMID: 39701314 PMCID: PMC11750071
Lu, H.,Delnicki, M., Griffin, G., Wise, J.L. (2025).Sex Differences in Metal-Induced Diseases. Current Environmental Health Reports. 12(1), 18. PMID: 40202678 PMCID: pending, DOI: 10.1007/s40572-025-00482-x
Meaza I., Wise J.L., Wise S.S., Lu H., Williams A.R., Delnicki M., Easley J., Kouokam J.C., Wise, Jr., J.P., Vielee S., Wise, J.T.F., and Wise, Sr., J.P. Oropharyngeal Aspiration of Particulate Hexavalent Chromium Increases Chromium Levels in Lung and Liver, and Induces Essential Metal Dyshomeostasis in Lung, Liver and Blood. Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology. Under Review.
Griffin, G., Delnicki, M.E., Lu, H., Meaza, I., Williams, A., Vielee, S.T., Bolatimi, O.E., Speer, R.M., Liu, R. Kouokam, J.C., Wise, S.S., Wise, Sr., J.P., Cave, M.C., Wise, Jr., J.P., Wise, J.L. (2025). Exposure to Current Regulatory Levels of Hexavalent Chromium in Drinking Water Alters Diet-Induced Steatotic Liver Disease in Male Rats. Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology. Under Review.