The University of Toledo

William S. Messer

William S. Messer Professor of Pharmacology Chair, Department of Pharmacology 419.383.1958 Phone 419.383.1909 FAX HEB 274C wmesser@utnet.utoledo.edu

Institutions/Degrees

B.S.	Springfield College Biology
M.S.	University of Rochester Neuroscience
Ph.D.	University of Rochester Neuroscience

Research Interests

Development of new treatments for neurological disorders; Synthesis of novel M1 agonists for Alzheimer's disease; Synthesis of M4 agonists for schizophrenia; Development of M5 antagonists for the treatment of drug abuse.

Recent Publications

• Rajeswaran, W.G., Y. Cao, X.-P. Huang, M.E. Wroblewski, T. Colclough, S. Lee, F. Liu, P.I. Nagy, J. Ellis, B.A. Levine, K.H. Nocka and W.S. Messer, Jr. Design, synthesis and biological characterization of bivalent 1-methyl-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridyl-1,2,5-thiadiazole derivatives as selective muscarinic agonists. J. Med. Chem. 44(26): 4563-4576, 2001.
  
  
• Messer, W.S., Jr., Cholinergic agonists and the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Curr. Top. Med. Chem. 2(4): 353-358, 2002.
  
  
• Williams, F.E., D. White and W.S. Messer, Jr. A simple spatial alternation task for assessing memory function in zebrafish. Behav. Proc. 58: 125-132, 2002.
  
  
• Messer, W.S., Jr., The utility of muscarinic agonists in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. J. Mol. Neurosci. 19: 187-193, 2002.
  
  
• Wise, D.D., T.V. Barkhimer, P.-A. Brault, J.R. Kirchhoff, W.S. Messer, Jr. and R.A. Hudson. Internal standard method for the measurement of choline and acetylcholine by capillary electrophoresis with electrochemical detection. J. Chromatogr. B Biomed. Sci. Appl. 775(1): 49-56, 2002.
  
  
• Huang, X., H. Xiao, E.B. Rex, R.J. Hobson, W.S. Messer, P.R. Komuniecki and R.W. Komuniecki. Functional characterization of alternatively spliced 5-HT2 receptor isoforms from the pharynx and muscle of the parasitic nematode, Ascaris suum. J. Neurochem. 83: 249-258, 2002.
  
  
• Barkhimer, T., J.R. Kirchhoff, R.A. Hudson and W.S. Messer, Jr. Evaluation of the inhibition of choline uptake in synaptosomes by capillary electrophoresis with electrochemical detection. Electrophoresis 23(21): 3699-704, 2002.
  
  
• Messer, W.S., Jr., K.A. Bachmann, C. Dockery, A.A. El-Assadi, E. Hassoun, N. Haupt, B. Tang and X. Li. Development of CDD-0102 as a selective M1 agonist for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Drug Dev. Res. 57(4): 200-213, 2002.
  
  
• Cao, Y., M. Zhang, C. Wu, S. Lee, M.E. Wroblewski, T. Whipple, P.I. Nagy, K. Takács-Novák, A. Balázs, S. Torös and William S. Messer, Jr. Synthesis and biological characterization of 1-methyl-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridyl-1,2,5-thiadiazole derivatives as muscarinic agonists for the treatment of neurological disorders. J. Med. Chem. 46: 4273-4286, 2003.
  
  
• Messer, W.S., Jr., Drugs that target muscarinic cholinergic receptors, in Cognitive Enhancing Drugs, edited by J. Buccafusco, Birkhäuser Verlag, pp. 37-48, 2004.
  
  
• Williams, F.E. and W.S. Messer, Jr. Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors in the brain of zebrafish (Danio rerio) measured by radioligand binding techniques. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 137(4): 349-353, 2004.
  
  
• Messer, W.S., Jr., Bivalent ligands for G protein-coupled receptors, Curr. Pharm. Des., 10: 2015-2020, 2004.
  
  
• Nagy, P.I., F. Tejada and W.S. Messer, Jr. Conformational analysis and derivation of molecular mechanics parameters for esters and thioesters. J. Phys. Chem. (in press).