Cristiano Bertolucci's Home Page

Mailing address:         Sezione di Fisiologia Generale         Dipartimento di Biologia ed evoluzione         Università di Ferrara              Via Luigi Borsari, 46     44100   FERRARA     Italy

                ++39 - 0532 - 455485                            ++39 - 0532 - 207143

                                           bru@unife.it

• Current position
• Education
• Research Interest
• Work in Progress
• Publications
• Comments

Current Position

Assistant Professor, Department of Biology and Evolution, University of Ferrara, Italy

Education

• 1993: Degree in Biology, University of Pisa, Italy. Experimental Thesis: "The primary circadian pacemaker in the ruin lizard Podarcis sicula is localized in suprachiasmatic nuclei of hypothalamus".

• 1998: Ph.D. in Animal Biology, University of Ferrara, Italy. Thesis: "Circadian, seasonal and circannual behavioral rhythmicity in the lacertid Podarcis sicula (Reptilia, Sauria)".

Research Interest

My studies try to understand the over-all organization of the circadian systems and the evolution of timing systems. I'm attracted to know how circadian oscillators work and what role they play as mediators of rhythmic physiological and behavioural processes.

My current research projects are:

- Behavioural and physiological analysis of vertebrate circadian rhythms

- Molecular circadian clock of animals living in extreme conditions (hypogean blind fish and Antarctic krill).

- Circadian rhythms in mouse blood coagulation

- Circadian rhythms in livestock

Collaborations:

Publications 

Bertolucci C., Fazio F., Piccione G. (2008) Daily rhythms of serum lipids in dogs: influence of lighting and fasting cycles. Comparative Medicine, in press

Bertolucci C., Giannetto C., Fazio F., Piccione G (2008) Seasonal variations in daily rhythms of activity in athletic horses. Animal, 2(7): 1055-1060.

Bertolucci C., Cavallari N., Colognesi I., Aguzzi J., Chen Z., Caruso P., Foà A., Tosini G., Bernardi F., Pinotti M. (2008) - Evidence for an overlapping role of Clock and Npas2 transcription factors in liver circadian oscillators. Molecular and Cellular Biology, 28(9): 3070–3075..

De Pittà C, Bertolucci C., Mazzotta G.M., Bernante F., Rizzo G., De Nardi B., Pallavicini A., Lanfranchi G. Costa R. (2008) - Systematic sequencing of mRNA from the Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and first tissue specific transcriptional segnature. BMC Genomics 9:45.

Piccione G., Bertolucci C., Giannetto C., Giudice E. (2007) - Clotting profiles in newborn Maltese kids during the first week of life. Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation, 20:114-118.

 Piccione G., Bertolucci C., Grasso F., Giudice E. (2007) - Changes in gas composition and acid-base values of venous blood samples stored at different temperatures in four domestic species. Veterinary Clinical Pathology, 36(4):358-360

 Piccione G., Bertolucci C., Caola G., Foà A. (2007) - Effects of restricted feeding on circadian activity rhythms of sheep - a brief report. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 107(3-4):233-238.

Malatesta M., Frigato E., Baldelli B., Battistelli S., Foà A., Bertolucci C. (2007) - Influence of temperature on the liver circadian clock in the ruin lizard Podarcis sicula. Microscopy Research and Technique, 70(7):578-584.

 Colognesi I., Pasquali V., Foà A., Renzi P., Bernardi F., Bertolucci C., Pinotti M. (2007) - Temporal variations of coagulation factor VII activity in mice are influenced by lighting regime. Chronobiology Int., 24(2):305-313

Vallone D., Frigato E., Vernesi C., Foà A., Foulkes N.S., Bertolucci C. (2007) - Hypothermia modulates circadian clock gene expression in lizard peripheral tissues. Am. J. Physiol., 292: R160-R166.

Piccione G., Foà A., Bertolucci C., Caola G. (2006) - Daily rhythm of salivary and serum urea concentrations in sheep. J. Circadian Rhythms, 4: 16.

Pavan B., Frigato E., Pozzati S, Prasad P.D., Bertolucci C., Biondi C. (2006) - Circadian clocks regulate adenylyl cyclase activity rhythms in human RPE cells. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 350(1): 169-173.

Frigato E., Vallone D., Bertolucci C., Foulkes N.S. (2006) - Isolation and characterization of melanopsin and pinopsin expression within photoreceptive sites of reptiles. Naturwissenschaften 93(8):379-385.

Foà A., Brandstätter R., Bertolucci C. (2006) - The circadian system of ruin lizards: a seasonally changing neuroendocrine loop? Chronobiology Int. 23(1-2): 317-327

Piccione G., Costa A., Bertolucci C., Borruso M., Pennisi P., Caola G. (2006) - Acid-base balance modifications in the lamb and kid during the first week of life. Small Ruminant Res. 63: 304–308.

Piccione G., Bertolucci C., Costa A., Di Mauro S., Caola G. (2005) - Daily rhythm of body and auricle temperature in goats kept at two different ambient temperature. Biol. Rhythms Res. 36(4): 309-314.

Bertolucci C., Caola G., Foà A., Piccione G. (2005) - Daily rhythms of serum leptin in ewes: effects of feeding, pregnancy and lactation. Chronobiology Int. 22(5): 817-827.

Bertolucci C., Pinotti M., Colognesi I., Foà A., Bernardi F., Portaluppi F. (2005) - Circadian Rhythms in Mouse Blood Coagulation. Journal of Biological Rhythms 20(3): 219-224.

Pinotti M., Bertolucci C., Portaluppi F., Colognesi I., Frigato E., Foà A., Bernardi F. (2005) - Daily and circadian rhythms of TFPI and Factor VII activity. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology 25: 646-649.

Magnone M.C., Jacobmeier B., Bertolucci C., Foà A., Albrecht U. (2005) - Circadian expression of the clock gene Per2 is altered in the ruin lizard (Podarcis sicula) when temperature changes. Mol. Brain Res. 133: 281-285.

Mirimin L., Vernesi C., Bertolucci C., Mazzotti S., Bertorelle G. (2004) - Mitochondrial DNA variation and divergence in three Hermann’s tortoise (Testudo hermanni) populations. Italian J. Zoology 71(2):199-201.

Bertolucci C., Foà A. (2004) - Extraocular photoreception and circadian entrainment in non-mammalian vertebrates. Chronobiology Int. 21(4-5): 501-519.

Piccione G., Bertolucci C., Foà A., Caola G. (2004) - Influence of fasting and exercise on the daily rhythm of serum leptin in the horse. Chronobiology Int. 21(3):405-417

Pasqualetti M., Bertolucci C., Ori M., Innocenti A., Magnone M.C., De Grip W.J., Nardi I., Foà A. (2003) - Identification of circadian brain photoreceptors mediating photic entrainment of behavioural rhythms in lizards. Eur. J. Neurosc. 18: 364-372.

Magnone M.C., Bertolucci C., Piazza F., Foà A. (2003) - Daily and circadian rhythms of neurotransmitters and related compounds in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei of a diurnal vertebrate. Brain Res. 973(1): 115-121.

Foà A., Bertolucci C. (2003) - Toward a seasonal model of the circadian system: the case of ruin lizards. Front. Bioscience 8: 236-242.

Bertolucci C., Wagner G., Foà A., Gwinner E., Brandstaetter R. (2003) - Photoperiod affects amplitude but not duration of in vitro melatonin production in the ruin lizard Podarcis sicula. J. Biol. Rhythms 18(1): 63-70.

Bertolucci C., Foà A., Van't Hof T.J. (2002) - Seasonal variations in circadian rhythms of plasma melatonin in ruin lizards. Horm. Behav. 41: 414-419.

Foà A., Magnone M.C., Bertolucci C. (2002) - Circadian organization in ruin lizards: phase response curve for melatonin changes with season. J. Comp. Physiol. A 188: 141-145.

Foà A., Bertolucci C. (2001) - Temperature cycles induce a bimodal activity pattern in ruin lizards: masking or clock-controlled event? a seasonal problem. J. Biol. Rhythms 16(6): 574-584.

Tosini G., Bertolucci C., Foà A. (2001) - The circadian system of reptiles: a true multioscillatory and multiphotoreceptive system. Physiol. & Behav. 72 (4):461-471

Bertolucci C., Sovrano V.A., Magnone M.C., Foà A. (2000) - The role of the suprachiasmatic nuclei in circadian and light-entrained behavioral rhythms of lizard. Am. J. Physiol. 279 (6): R2121-R2131.

Bertolucci C., Leorati M., Innocenti A., Foà A. (1999) - Circannual variations of lizard circadian activity rhythms in constant darkness. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol., 46 (3): 200-209.

Bertolucci C., Foà A. (1998) - Seasonality and role of the SCN in entrainment of lizard circadian locomotor rhythms to daily melatonin injections. Am. J. Physiol. 274 (4): R1004-R1014.

Foà A., Bertolucci C., Marsanich A., Innocenti A. (1997) - Pineal transplantation to the brain of pinealectomized lizards: effects on circadian rhythms of locomotor activity. Behav. Neurosc., 111(5): 1123-1132.

Innocenti A., Bertolucci C., Minutini L., Foà A. (1996) - Seasonal variations of pineal involvement in the circadian organization of the ruin lizard Podarcis sicula. J. Exp. Biol., 199: 1189-1194.

Minutini L., Innocenti A., Bertolucci C., Foà A. (1995) - Circadian organization in the ruin lizard Podarcis sicula: the role of the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus. J. Comp. Physiol. A, 176: 281-288.

Minutini L., Innocenti A., Bertolucci C., Foà A. (1994) - Electrolytic lesions to the optic chiasm affect circadian locomotor rhythms in lizards. Neuroreport, 5: 525-527.

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Page created by Cristiano Bertolucci Update: 07/29/08.