UASOM Faculty Profiles


Name	BRANDON SCOTT PRUETT Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology Associate Scientist, Comprehensive Neuroscience Center (CNC) Associate Scientist, Civitan International Research Center (CIRC)
Campus Address	SC 835C Zip 0017
Phone	(205) 996-9373
E-mail	bspruett@uabmc.edu
Other websites	Pruett Lab NCBI Bibliography GoogleScholar Citations ResearchGate Profile LinkedIn Profile

Undergraduate

Louisiana Scholars' College at Northwestern State University

2006

B.A.

Graduate

Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport

2012

Ph.D.

Medical School

Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport

2014

M.D.

Residency

Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

2018

General Adult Psychiatry

Rhode Island Limited Physician License

2014-2017

Rhode Island Allopathic Physician License

2017-2018

Alabama Full Unrestricted MD License

2018-present

Psychiatry, Diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology

2018-present

Appointment Type

Department

Division

Rank

Primary

Psych - Adult

Assistant Professor

Center

Civitan International Research Center

Assistant Professor

Center

Comprehensive Neuroscience Center

Assistant Professor

Center

Ctr for Clinical & Translational Sci

Assistant Professor

I earned a dual MD/PhD from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, receiving my PhD in 2012 and my MD in 2014. During my graduate studies, I examined how aging influences the molecular regulation of dopamine in the rat basal ganglia in the lab of Michael Salvatore, PhD. This research resulted in two first author publications, as well as six additional publications, and helped instill in me a desire to better understand molecular mechanisms in the brain that are involved in human behavior and how these mechanisms go awry in disease states. In my final years of medical school, I developed a strong interest in Psychiatry and a desire to pursue a research-oriented career in this field and to reorient my research toward understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying Psychiatric illness. To this end, I completed my General Adult Psychiatry Residency Training at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in 2018. During my residency I was a prominent member of the research track and had the great fortune of being mentored by Eric Morrow, MD, PhD with whom I studied a rare genetic neurodevelopmental and possibly neurodegenerative condition called Christianson syndrome, which is caused by mutations in Na+/H+ Exchanger 6 (NHE6), a protein that helps regulate the pH of endosomes by deacidifying them. I helped characterize neurodegenerative changes in the mouse model of Christianson syndrome and analyzed magnetic resonance images from patients with Christianson syndrome to identify structural brain changes associated with this disease, findings which have led to one published manuscript and another that is currently in preparation. Upon completing my residency training in 2018, I accepted a tenure track position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. I currently split my time between clinical work as an Attending Psychiatrist on our Adult Inpatient Teaching Service and academic research in the lab of the Chair of my department, James Meador-Woodruff, MD, a world-renowned expert in molecular disruptions in schizophrenia brain. Here, I am applying the knowledge I gained during my research in residency with Dr. Morrow to investigate how disruptions to intracellular compartmental pH regulation may contribute to schizophrenia pathophysiology.

Title
Intracellular compartmental disruptions of pH in Schizophrenia
Description
Our group studies molecular disruptions in the serious mental illness schizophrenia looking primarily in postmortem human brain. My research, in particular, focuses on understanding how schizophrenia may alter the molecular regulation of intracellular compartmental pH and how this, in turn, may underlie deficits in protein modification and trafficking seen in this illness.

Publication	PUBMEDID
Burk BG, DiGiacomo T,Polancich S, Pruett BS, Sivaraman S, Birur B. Antipsychotics and obsessive–compulsive disorder/obsessive–compulsive symptoms: Apharmacovigilance study of the FDA adverse eventreporting system. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2023;1‐15.	37194481
Shapira I, Burk B, Hill H, Pruett BS. Playing with a Full Dex of Cards: Treatment Resistant Depression with Suicidality Responds to Inpatient Dextromethorphan Therapy. Psychiatry Res Case Rep. 2023 Mar 15;2(1).
Pruett BS, Pinner AL, Kim P, Meador-Woodruff JH. Altered distribution and localization of organellar Na+/H+ exchangers in postmortem schizophrenia dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Transl Psychiatry. 2023 Feb 2;13(1):34.	36732328
Pruett BS, Meador-Woodruff JM. Evidence for altered energy metabolism, increased lactate, and decreased pH in schizophrenia brain: A focused review and meta-analysis of human postmortem and magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies. Schizophr Res. 2020 Sep;223:29-42. Epub 2020 Sep 18.	32958361
Kasanga EA, Owens CL, Cantu MA, Richard AD, Davis RW, McDivitt LM, Blancher B, Pruett BS, Tan C, Gajewski A, Manfredsson FP, Nejtek VA, Salvatore MF. GFR-α1 Expression in Substantia Nigra Increases Bilaterally Following Unilateral Striatal GDNF in Aged Rats and Attenuates Nigral Tyrosine Hydroxylase Loss Following 6-OHDA Nigrostriatal Lesion. ACS Chem Neurosci. 2019 Oct 16;10(10):4237-4249. Epub 2019 Oct 8.	31538765
Salvatore MF, McInnis TR, Cantu MA, Apple DM, Pruett BS. Tyrosine Hydroxylase Inhibition in Substantia Nigra Decreases Movement Frequency. Mol Neurobiol. 2018 Jul 28.	30056575
Xu M, Ouyang Q, Gong J, Pescosolido MF, Pruett BS, Mishra S, Schmidt M, Jones RN, Gamsiz Uzun ED, Lizarraga SB, Morrow EM. Mixed Neurodevelopmental and Neurodegenerative Pathology in Nhe6-Null Mouse Model of Christianson Syndrome. eNeuro. 2018 Jan 17;4(6). pii: ENEURO.0388-17.2017.	29349289
Salvatore MF, Terrebonne J, Cantu MA, McInnis TR, Venable K, Kelley P, Kasanga EA, Latimer B, Owens CL, Pruett BS, Yu Y, Luedtke R, Forster MJ, Sumien N, Ingram DK. Dissociation of Striatal Dopamine and Tyrosine Hydroxylase Expression from Aging-Related Motor Decline: Evidence from Calorie Restriction Intervention. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2017 Dec 12;73(1):11-20.	28637176
Pruett BS, Salvatore MF. Nigral GFRα1 infusion in aged rats increases locomotor activity, nigral tyrosine hydroxylase, and dopamine content in synchronicity. Mol Neurobiol. 2013 Jun;47(3):988-99.	23321789
Salvatore MF, Pruett BS, Dempsey C, Fields V. Comprehensive profiling of dopamine regulation in substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area. J Vis Exp. 2012 Aug 10;(66). pii: 4171.	22907542
Salvatore MF, Pruett BS. Dichotomy of tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine regulation between somatodendritic and terminal field areas of nigrostriatal and mesoaccumbens pathways. PLoS One. 2012;7(1):e29867.	22242182
Keller CM, Salvatore MF, Pruett BS, Guerin GF, Goeders NE. Biphasic dopamine regulation in mesoaccumbens pathway in response to non-contingent binge and escalating methamphetamine regimens in the Wistar rat. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2011 Jun;215(3):513-26.	21523347
Pruett BS, Salvatore MF. GFR α-1 receptor expression in the aging nigrostriatal and mesoaccumbens pathways. J Neurochem. 2010 Nov;115(3):707-15.	20731758
Salvatore MF, Pruett BS, Spann SL, Dempsey C. Aging reveals a role for nigral tyrosine hydroxylase ser31 phosphorylation in locomotor activity generation. PLoS One. 2009 Dec 23;4(12):e8466.	20037632
Pruett BS, Pruett SB. An explanation for the paradoxical induction and suppression of an acute phase response by ethanol. Alcohol. 2006 Jun;39(2):105-10. Epub 2006 Oct 2.	17134663

schizophrenia, pH, Na+-H+ Exchangers (NHEs)