Holger Volk
|
|
Holger is head of the Neurology & Neurosurgery service and currently a Lecturer in Neurology and Neurosurgery at the Royal Veterinary College. His main research interests are Chiari-like malformation and syringomyelia in Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and canine and feline epilepsy.
Biography
Holger studied veterinary medicine at the Veterinary School of Hanover, Germany and at the Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Lyon, France, which was partly funded by the German National Academic Foundation. He graduated from the Veterinary School of Hanover in June 2001. Following this, he started a German National Academic Foundation funded 3-year PhD programme in veterinary science at the Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Pharmacy, Veterinary School of Hanover.
In July 2004, he finished his study about the underlying mechanisms of pharmacoresistant epilepsy and was awarded with a PhD, which was rewarded with the Domagk Prize of the pharmaceutical company Bayer. He then completed an internship and a residency in Neurology and Neurosurgery at The Royal Veterinary College in September 2007. In September 2008, he successfully passed the examination for the Diploma of the European College of Veterinary Neurology.
Holger is head of the Neurology & Neurosurgery service and currently a Lecturer in Neurology and Neurosurgery at the Royal Veterinary College. His main research interests are Chiari-like malformation and syringomyelia in Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and canine and feline epilepsy.
Research
Holger’s main area of interest is in canine and feline epilepsy (Epilepsy Clinic Website), including the underlying mechanisms of the disorder itself and of pharmacoresistant epilepsy.
Teaching
Holger currently runs the Problem Solving in Veterinary Neurology module for the Senior Clinical Training Scholars and the Nervous System and Special Senses module for the 3rd year BVetMed undergraduate course, Advanced Veterinary Nursing Physiology module, and teaches final year students and Senior/Junior Clinical Training Scholars during their Neurology & Neurosurgery rotation.
The Neurology/Neurosurgery team provides many CPD courses. Examples of courses available include: Neurological emergencies, Feline Neurology, Epilepsy and Brain Disease/Spinal diseases in the Old and Young.
Clinical
Holger works in the QMHA clinics on all aspects of neurology and neurosurgery but his particular interests are canine and feline epilepsy. For more information on epilepsy and the epilepsy clinic at the QMHA please visit the Epilepsy Clinic Website.
Selected Publications
VOLK, H. A., MATIASEK, L. A., LUJAN FELIU-PASCUAL, A., PLATT, S. R. & CHANDLER, K. E. (2008) The efficacy and tolerability of levetiracetam in pharmacoresistant epileptic dogs. Vet J 176, 310-319. PubMed ID 17468024
BRANDT, C., GLIEN, M., GASTENS, A. M., FEDROWITZ, M., BETHMANN, K., VOLK, H. A., POTSCHKA, H. & LOSCHER, W. (2007) Prophylactic treatment with levetiracetam after status epilepticus: lack of effect on epileptogenesis, neuronal damage, and behavioral alterations in rats. Neuropharmacology 53, 207-221. PubMed ID 17585956
WESSMANN, A., VOLK, H. A., SHELTON, G. D., CHANDLER, K. E., BAINES, S. & CAPPELLO, R. (2006) Portosystemic shunt associated with severe episodic weakness. J Vet Intern Med 20, 1042-1044. PubMed ID 16955838
VOLK, H. A., ARABADZISZ, D., FRITSCHY, J. M., BRANDT, C., BETHMANN, K. & LOSCHER, W. (2006) Antiepileptic drug-resistant rats differ from drug-responsive rats in hippocampal neurodegeneration and GABA(A) receptor ligand binding in a model of temporal lobe epilepsy. Neurobiol Dis 21, 633-646. PubMed ID 16256358
HOFFMANN, K., GASTENS, A. M., VOLK, H. A. & LOSCHER, W. (2006) Expression of the multidrug transporter MRP2 in the blood-brain barrier after pilocarpine-induced seizures in rats. Epilepsy Res 69, 1-14. PubMed ID 16504477
VOLK, H. A. & LOSCHER, W. (2005) Multidrug resistance in epilepsy: rats with drug-resistant seizures exhibit enhanced brain expression of P-glycoprotein compared with rats with drug-responsive seizures. Brain 128, 1358-1368. PubMed ID 15716304
VOLK, H., POTSCHKA, H. & LOSCHER, W. (2005) Immunohistochemical localization of P-glycoprotein in rat brain and detection of its increased expression by seizures are sensitive to fixation and staining variables. J Histochem Cytochem 53, 517-531. PubMed ID 15805426
VOLK, H. A., POTSCHKA, H. & LOSCHER, W. (2004) Increased expression of the multidrug transporter P-glycoprotein in limbic brain regions after amygdala-kindled seizures in rats. Epilepsy Res 58, 67-79. PubMed ID 15066676
VOLK, H. A., BURKHARDT, K., POTSCHKA, H., CHEN, J., BECKER, A. & LOSCHER, W. (2004) Neuronal expression of the drug efflux transporter P-glycoprotein in the rat hippocampus after limbic seizures. Neuroscience 123, 751-759. PubMed ID 14706787
POTSCHKA, H., VOLK, H. A. & LOSCHER, W. (2004) Pharmacoresistance and expression of multidrug transporter P-glycoprotein in kindled rats. Neuroreport 15, 1657-1661. PubMed ID 15232302
BRANDT, C., VOLK, H. A. & LOSCHER, W. (2004) Striking differences in individual anticonvulsant response to phenobarbital in rats with spontaneous seizures after status epilepticus. Epilepsia 45, 1488-1497. PubMed ID 15571506
BRANDT, C., GLIEN, M., POTSCHKA, H., VOLK, H. & LOSCHER, W. (2003) Epileptogenesis and neuropathology after different types of status epilepticus induced by prolonged electrical stimulation of the basolateral amygdala in rats. Epilepsy Res 55, 83-103. PubMed ID 12948619