Carl Marfurt, Ph.D.

Education

• Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1976; B.S., Biology
• Temple University, 1980; Ph.D., Anatomy

Position

• Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology
• Course Director for Neural Control and Disease

Memberships

• Editorial Board member and Section Editor (Cornea and Ocular Surface Section), Ophthalmic Research
• Editorial Board Member, Ask the Expert section, American Association of Anatomists
  Education Website
• Member, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)

Teaching Experience and Honors

• Course Director for Neural Control and Disease (Step 4): 1984-present
• Indiana University School of Medicine teaching award recipient: 1997-2005

Research Interests

My current research centers on the anatomy and neurochemistry of the corneal innervation, and on the roles that corneal nerves play in promoting corneal trophism and wound healing. As a neuroanatomist, I have a passion for things morphological; thus, much of my past work has focused on the origins, morphology, architectural patterns, and neurochemistry of the mammalian corneal innervation.

My current interests include the effects of corneal neurochemicals such as substance P, calcitonin gene-related peptide, galanin, acetylcholine and other trophic factors on corneal epithelial wound healing following eye injuries. In collaboration with colleagues at the University of Wisconsin, I am also studying the role of corneal nerves in a dog model of spontaneous chronic corneal epithelial defects.

With these same collaborators and an ophthalmologist at Northwestern University, I am studying the ability of topical nerve growth factor (NGF) to promote corneal wound healing after experimental injury and refractive surgery (LASIK). Methods used routinely in my laboratory include immunohistochemistry, microscopy, nerve tracing techniques, cell culture, small animal surgeries, and in vitro and in vivo models of corneal epithelial wound healing.

Selected Publications

Marfurt, C.F., and D. M. Rajchert. 1990. Trigeminal primary afferent projections to "non-trigeminal" areas of the rat central nervous system. J. Comp. Neurol., 303:489-511.

Keller, J. and C.F. Marfurt. 1991. Peptidergic innervation of the rat supratentorial dura mater. J. Comp. Neurol. 309:1-20. 

Marfurt, C. F. and S. F. Echtenkamp. 1991. Sensory innervation of the rat kidney and ureter as revealed by the anterograde transport of HRP-WGA from dorsal root ganglia. J.Comp. Neurol. 311:389-404.

Jones, M. A. and C. F. Marfurt. 1991. Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and
corneal innervation. A developmental study in the rat. J. Comp. Neurol. 313:132-150.

Marfurt, C. F., L. C. Ellis, and M. A. Jones. 1993. Sensory and sympathetic nerve
sprouting in the rat cornea following neonatal administration of capsaicin. Somatosens. Motor Res., 10:377-398.

Marfurt, C. F. and L. C. Ellis. 1993. Immunohistochemical localization of tyrosine hydroxylase in corneal nerves. J. Comp. Neurol.
336:517-531.

Marfurt, C. F. and S. E. Echtenkamp. 1995. The effect of diabetes on neuropeptide content in rat cornea and iris. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 36:1100-1106.

McMahon, R.E., J. Griep, C. F. Marfurt, and M. A. Saxen. 1995. Local anesthetic effects in the presence of chronic osteomyelitis (necrosis) of the mandible: implications for localizing the etiologic site(s) of referred trigeminal pain. J. Craniomand. Practice. 13:212-226.

Jones, M. A. and C. F. Marfurt. 1996. Sympathetic stimulation of corneal epithelial proliferation in wounded and non-wounded rat eyes. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 37:2535-2547.

Kingsley, R. E. and C. F. Marfurt. 1997. Topical substance P and corneal epithelial wound closure in the rabbit. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis.
Sci. 38;388-395.

Jones, M.A. and C. F. Marfurt. 1998. Peptidergic innervation of the rat cornea. Exptl. Eye Res. 66:421-435.

Marfurt, C. F., M. A. Jones and K. Thrasher. 1998. Parasympathetic innervation of the rat cornea. Exptl. Eye Res. 66:437-448.

Murphy, C. J., Campbell, S., and C. F. Marfurt. 1998. Effect of norepinephrine on proliferation, migration, and adhesion of SV-40
transformed human corneal epithelial cells. Cornea, 17:529-536.

Marfurt, C. F., Murphy, C. J. and Florczak, J. 2001. Morphology and neurochemistry of
the canine corneal innervation. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci, 42:2242-2251.

Murphy, C. J., Marfurt, C. F., Bentley, E., Campbell, S. and Reid, T. W. 2001 . Spontaneous chronic epithelial defects (SCCED) in dogs: clinical features, innervation, and effect of topical SP, with or without IGF-1. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., 42:2252-2261.

Weigt, A.K., Herring, J.P., Marfurt, C.F., Pickett, J.P., Duncan, R.B. Jr., and Ward, D.L. 2002. Effects of cyclophotocoagulation with a neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet laser on corneal sensitivity, intraocular pressure, aqueous tear production, and corneal nerve morphology in eyes of dogs. Amer. J. Veter. Res., 63:906-915.

Woo, H.-M., Bentley, E., Campbell, S. F., Marfurt, C. F., and Murphy, C. J. 2005. Nerve growth factor and corneal wound healing in dogs. Exp. Eye Res., 80:633-642.

Talarico, E.F., Kennedy, B.G., Marfurt, C.F., Loeffler, K.U. and Mangini, N.J. Expression and immunolocalization of plasma membrane calcium ATPase isoforms in human corneal epithelium. Mol Vis. 2005 Mar 2;11:169-78.

Review Articles

Marfurt, C. F. (2000) Nervous control of the cornea. In Nervous Control of the Eye. Autonomic Nervous System Book Series, Vol. 13. Burnstock, G. and Sillito, A., eds., pp. 41-92.

Muller, L. J., Marfurt, C. F., Kruse, F., and Tervo, T. 2003. Corneal nerves: structure, contents and function. Exp. Eye Res., 76:521-542.