J. Mikhail Kellawan
Associate Professor, Health and Exercise Science Human Circulation Research Laboratory, 1401 Asp Ave., Rm. 112 kellawan at ou dot edu https://www.ou.edu/cas/hes/research/research-laboratories/human-circulation-research-lab Ph.D., Kinesiology & Health Studies - Queen’s University, CA, 2013RESEARCH:
Matching delivery of blood (thus, oxygen and other substrates) to tissue demand is a critical role of the cardiovascular system, such that, inability of structural and functional systems to properly support tissues affects exercise capacity, tolerance, functional activities of daily life, and promotes poor cardiovascular health outcomes. To ensure that blood flow matches metabolic demand, the cardiovascular system must maintain arterial blood pressure while constantly adjusting blood flow throughout all the vascular beds in the circulatory system. Exercise presents an exceptional challenge to the cardiovascular system, as working muscles need a dramatic increase in blood flow to deliver adequate amounts of oxygen. Therefore, integrated control of cardiac output (amount of blood pumped by the heart), vasodilation (opening of blood vessels) and vasoconstriction (narrowing of blood vessels) is needed to direct blood from non-working tissues to the working muscles without severely impacting blood flow to the brain. Recent research indicates that conditions that interfere with proper “matching” of blood flow to metabolic demand affect both physical and cognitive health. The Human Circulation Research Laboratory (HCRL) research focus is to conduct experiments that provide insight into the vascular control mechanisms in the cerebral and skeletal muscle circulations during exercise and environmental stress in humans.
Selected Publications:
Pereira, H. M., Battung, E. F., Keller, N. R., Nolan, M., Gigliotti, A., and Kellawan, J. M. (2026) The impact of cognitive stress on vascular response and force steadiness during a handgrip task in males and females. Journal of Applied Physiology 140: 1329–1337.
Matney, J. E., Buelow, A. A., Mixon, C., Skillett, S. M., Ashley, J. D., Song, J., Fakhrabadi, A. A., Pointer, P., Sprick, J. D., Black, C. D., Pereira, H. M., and Kellawan, J. M. (2025) The effects of CYP450 inhibition on cerebrovascular control during rest and mild hypovolemia: An exploratory study in young, healthy adults. Physiological Reports 13, e70712.
Fakhrabadi, A. A., Buelow, A. A., Matney, J. E., Skillett, S. M., Song, J., Mixon, C., Stanford, M. D., Ashley, J. D., and Kellawan, J. M. (2025) Inhibition of cytochrome P-450 2C9 pathways attenuated flow-mediated dilation in males but not females. Journal of Applied Physiology 139: 1638–1648.
Szarvas, Z., Reyff, Z., Peterfi, A., Pinto, C., Owens, C., Kaposzta, Z., Mukli, P., da C. Pinaffi-Langley, A., Adams, C., Muranyi, M., Palacios, F., Hawkins, B., Baur, J., Saleh Velez, F., Prodan, C., Kirkpatrick, A., Csiszar, A., Ungvari, Z., Balasubramanian, P., Negri, S., Tarantini, S, Ding, K., Buelow, A., Akbari, A., Kellawan, J. M., and Yabluchanskiy, A. (2025) Effects of NAD+ supplementation with oral nicotinamide riboside (NR) on vascular health and cognitive function in older adults with peripheral artery disease: A 4-Week open-label pilot trial. The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 392: 103607.
Buelow, A. A., Matney, J. E., Skillett, S. M., Ashley, J. D., Song, J., Mixon, C., Akbari Fakhrabadi, A., Stanford, M., Bemben, D. A., Larson, D. J., and Kellawan, J. M. (2025) Inhibition of CYP450 pathways reduces functional sympatholysis in healthy young adults. American Journal of Physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology 328: R642–R650.
Ashley, J. D., Shelley, J. H., Song, J., Sun, J., Larson, R. D., Larson, D. J., Berkowitz., A., and Kellawan, J. M. (2023) Cerebral blood flow dynamics: Is there more to the story at exercise onset? Physiological Reports 11: e15735.
Carter, K. J., Ward, A. T., Kellawan, J. M., Harrell, J. W., Peltonen, G. L., Roberts, G., Al-Subu, A., Hagen, S., Serlin, R., Eldridge, M., Wieben, O., and Schrage, W. G (2023) Reduced basal macrovascular and microvascular cerebral blood flow in young adults with metabolic syndrome: potential mechanisms. Journal of Applied Physiology 135: 94–108.
Owens, C., Mukli, P., Csipo, T., Lipecz, A., Silva-Palacios, F., Dasari, T., Tarantini, S., Gardner, A., Montgomery, P., Waldstein, S., Kellawan, J. M., Nyul-Toth, A., Balasubramanian, P., Sotonyi, P., Csiszar, A., Ungvari, Z., and Yabluchanskiy, A. (2022) Peripheral artery disease exacerbates microvascular endothelial dysfunction and neurovascular uncoupling, contributing to cognitive decline in older adults. American Journal of Physiology: Heart and Circulatory Physiology 322: H924-H935.
Carter, K. J., Ward, A. T., Kellawan, J. M., Eldridge, M., Al-Subu, A., Walker, B., Lee, J. W., Wieben, O., and Schrage, W. G. (2021) Nitric oxide synthase inhibition in healthy adults reduces regional and total cerebral macrovascular blood flow and microvascular perfusion. Physiological Reports 8: e14622.
Ashley, J. D., Shelley, J. H., Sun, J., Song, J., Trent, J. A., Ambrosio, L. D., Larson, D. J., Larson, R. D., Yabluchanskiy, A., and Kellawan, J. M. (2020) Cerebrovascular responses to graded exercise in young healthy males and females. Physiological Reports 8: e14622.