Associate Professor Phil Sheard is interested in sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass and strength that has profound implications for the elderly.
He is specifically interested in the role of the motor nerve terminal because progressive withdrawal of the motor nerve from the muscle fibre seems to be a conspicuous feature of elderly muscle. He is currently examining age-related changes to the neuromuscular junction with a view to using this information to establish whether motor nerve withdrawal is a cause of muscle fibre death, or a consequence of it.
Associate Professor Sheard uses electrophysiology, electron microscopy, confocal microscopy, fluorescence and transmitted light microscopy, histochemistry, immunohistochemistry, and anterograde and retrograde cell tracing techniques.
Find out more about Associate Professor Phil Sheard's research
Publications
Redmond, A. K., Davies, T. M., Schofield, M. R., & Sheard, P. W. (2023). New tools for the investigation of muscle fiber-type spatial distributions across histological sections. Skeletal Muscle, 13, 7. doi: 10.1186/s13395-023-00316-0
Journal - Research Article
Lal, N. N., Cornwall, J., & Sheard, P. W. (2023). Use of a novel technique to assess impact of age-related denervation on mouse soleus muscle function. Biogerontology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1007/s10522-023-10021-6
Journal - Research Article
Sheard, P. (2022, March). Is age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass primarily a neurodegenerative disease? UOC Research Seminar Series, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. [Department Seminar].
Other Research Output
Sheard, P. (2022, February). The cellular basis for age-related loss of muscle mass. Verbal presentation at the Collaboration of Ageing Research Excellence (CARE) Research Symposium, [Online].
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Lal, N. N., Cornwall, J., & Sheard, P. W. (2021). Age-related structural changes show that loss of fibers is not a significant contributor to muscle atrophy in old mice. Experimental Gerontology, 156, 111618. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2021.111618
Journal - Research Article
Lal, N. N., Cornwall, J., & Sheard, P. W. (2023). Use of a novel technique to assess impact of age-related denervation on mouse soleus muscle function. Biogerontology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1007/s10522-023-10021-6
Journal - Research Article
Redmond, A. K., Davies, T. M., Schofield, M. R., & Sheard, P. W. (2023). New tools for the investigation of muscle fiber-type spatial distributions across histological sections. Skeletal Muscle, 13, 7. doi: 10.1186/s13395-023-00316-0
Journal - Research Article
Lal, N. N., Cornwall, J., & Sheard, P. W. (2021). Age-related structural changes show that loss of fibers is not a significant contributor to muscle atrophy in old mice. Experimental Gerontology, 156, 111618. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2021.111618
Journal - Research Article
Gillon, A., Steel, C., Cornwall, J., & Sheard, P. (2020). Increased nuclear permeability is a driver for age-related motoneuron loss. GeroScience, 42, 833-847. doi: 10.1007/s11357-020-00155-7
Journal - Research Article
Davies, T. M., Schofield, M. R., Cornwall, J., & Sheard, P. W. (2019). Modelling multilevel spatial behaviour in binary-mark muscle fibre configurations. Annals of Applied Statistics, 13(3), 1329-1347. doi: 10.1214/18-AOAS1214
Journal - Research Article
Gillon, A., Nielsen, K., Steel, C., Cornwall, J., & Sheard, P. (2018). Exercise attenuates age-associated changes in motoneuron number, nucleocytoplasmic transport proteins and neuromuscular health. GeroScience, 40, 177-192. doi: 10.1007/s11357-018-0020-4
Journal - Research Article
Nielsen, K. B., Lal, N. N., & Sheard, P. W. (2018). Age-related remodelling of the myotendinous junction in the mouse soleus muscle. Experimental Gerontology, 104, 52-59. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2018.01.021
Journal - Research Article
Tan, C. L., Sheard, P. W., & Jasoni, C. L. (2018). Developing neurites from mouse basal forebrain gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons use Sonic hedgehog to modulate their growth. International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience, 68, 89-97. doi: 10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2018.05.005
Journal - Research Article
Hennebry, A., Oldham, J., Shavlakadze, T., Grounds, M. D., Sheard, P., Fiorotto, M. L., … McMahon, C. D. (2017). IGF1 stimulates greater muscle hypertrophy in the absence of myostatin in male mice. Journal of Endocrinology, 234(2), 187-200. doi: 10.1530/joe-17-0032
Journal - Research Article
Cornwall, J., Farrell, S. F., & Sheard, P. W. (2016). Fibre types of human suboccipital muscles. European Journal of Anatomy, 20(1), 31-36.
Journal - Research Article
White, Z., Terrill, J., White, R. B., McMahon, C., Sheard, P., Grounds, M. D., & Shavlakadze, T. (2016). Voluntary resistance wheel exercise from mid-life prevents sarcopenia and increases markers of mitochondrial function and autophagy in muscles of old male and female C57BL/6J mice. Skeletal Muscle, 6(1), 45. doi: 10.1186/s13395-016-0117-3
Journal - Research Article
Gillon, A., & Sheard, P. (2015). Elderly mouse skeletal muscle fibres have a diminished capacity to upregulate NCAM production in response to denervation. Biogerontology, 16(6), 811-823. doi: 10.1007/s10522-015-9608-6
Journal - Research Article
Lal, N., & Sheard, P. (2015). Dying myofibers in elderly mouse skeletal muscles are characterized by the appearance of dystrophin-encircled vacuoles. Biogerontology, 16, 443-459. doi: 10.1007/s10522-015-9565-0
Journal - Research Article
Thaung, H. P. A., Baldi, J. C., Wang, H.-Y., Hughes, G., Cook, R. F., Bussey, C. T., Sheard, P. W., Bahn, A., Jones, P. P., Schwenke, D. O., & Lamberts, R. R. (2015). Increased efferent cardiac sympathetic nerve activity and defective intrinsic heart rate regulation in type 2 diabetes. Diabetes, 64(8), 2944-2956. doi: 10.2337/db14-0955
Journal - Research Article
Hellyer, S. D., Selwood, A. I., van Ginkel, R., Munday, R., Sheard, P., Miles, C. O., … Kerr, D. S. (2014). In vitro labelling of muscle type nicotinic receptors using a fluorophore-conjugated pinnatoxin F derivative. Toxicon, 87, 17-25. doi: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2014.05.013
Journal - Research Article
McMahon, C. D., Chai, R., Radley-Crabb, H. G., Watson, T., Matthews, K. G., Sheard, P. W., … Shavlakadze, T. (2014). Lifelong exercise and locally produced insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) have a modest influence on reducing age-related muscle wasting in mice. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 24(6), e423-e435. doi: 10.1111/sms.12200
Journal - Research Article
Rowlands, D. S., Page, R. A., Sukala, W. R., Giri, M., Ghimbovschi, S. D., Hayat, I., … Leikis, M., Sheard, P. W., Wakefield, St. J., … Krebs, J., … Hoffman, E. P. (2014). Multi-omic integrated networks connect DNA methylation and miRNA with skeletal muscle plasticity to chronic exercise in Type 2 diabetic obesity. Physiological Genomics, 46(20), 747-765. doi: 10.1152/physiolgenomics.00024.2014
Journal - Research Article
Davies, T. M., Cornwall, J., & Sheard, P. W. (2013). Modelling dichotomously marked muscle fibre configurations. Statistics in Medicine, 32(24), 4240-4258. doi: 10.1002/sim.5806
Journal - Research Article
Sheard, P. W., & Anderson, R. D. (2012). Age-related loss of muscle fibres is highly variable amongst mouse skeletal muscles. Biogerontology, 13(2), 157-167. doi: 10.1007/s10522-011-9365-0
Journal - Research Article
Sheard, P. W., Bewick, G. S., Woolley, A. G., Shaw, J., Fisher, L., Fong, S. W., & Duxson, M. J. (2010). Investigation of neuromuscular abnormalities in neurotrophin-3-deficient mice. European Journal of Neuroscience, 31(1), 29-41. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2009.07032.x
Journal - Research Article
Woolley, A. G., Tait, K. J., Hurren, B. J., Fisher, L., Sheard, P. W., & Duxson, M. J. (2008). Developmental loss of NT-3 in vivo results in reduced levels of myelin-specific proteins, a reduced extent of myelination and increased apoptosis of Schwann cells. GLIA, 56(3), 306-317. doi: 10.1002/glia.20614
Journal - Research Article
Li, C., Stanton, J.-A. L., Robertson, T. M., Suttie, J. M., Sheard, P. W., Harris, A. J., & Clark, D. E. (2007). Nerve growth factor mRNA expression in the regenerating antler tip of red deer (Cervus elaphus). PLoS ONE, 2(1), e148. Retrieved from http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0000148
Journal - Research Article
Homer, C., Knight, D. A., Hananeia, L., Sheard, P., Risk, J., Lasham, A., Royds, J. A., & Braithwaite, A. W. (2005). Y-box factor YB1 controls p53 apoptotic function. Oncogene, 24, 8314-8325. Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/onc/journal/v24/n56/abs/1208998a.html
Journal - Research Article
Sun, C.-K., Zhang, X.-Y., Sheard, P. W., Mabuchi, A., & Wheatley, A. M. (2005). Change in mitochondrial membrane potential is the key mechanism in early warm hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury. Microvascular Research, 70, 102-110.
Journal - Research Article