Raymond M. Quock, Ph.D.
Allen I. White Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
College of Pharmacy
Washington State University
Pullman, WA 99164-6534
(509) 335-5956 (phone)
(509) 335-5902 (fax)
quockr@wsu.edu
Research Interests: Pharmacological, behavioral and neurochemical effects of medical gases, including nitrous oxide and hyperbaric oxygen; role of nitric oxide in the pharmacology of anxiety and pain control.
Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) therapy has been approved by the FDA for a limited set of clinical indications, although there are clinical reports that HBO2therapy appears to be effective in a broader range of conditions, including several examples of chronic pain (complex regional pain syndrome, fibromyalgia syndrome, migraine headache, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic osteomyelitis and other conditions). Exposure to HBO2 causes a non-uniform increase in levels of NO metabolites (nitrate and nitrite) in various brain regions and spinal cord of rats indicating that HBO2 can stimulate production of NO. Enhanced NO activity in the central nervous system may underlie some of the behavioral effects of HBO2. We were the first to systemically investigate the pattern of analgesic response to single and multiple HBO2 treatments and to hypothesize a mechanism of analgesic effect. HBO2-induced antinociception is sensitive to antagonism by inhibitors of NO production and opioid receptor antagonists, suggesting that the antinociception is mediated by NO and opioid mechanisms. Repeated exposure to HBO2 produces an antinociceptive response of unusually long duration, possibly similar to the clinical reports of relief of chronic pain conditions by intermittent HBO2 treatments.
Nitrous oxide (N2O or more commonly known as laughing gas) is a gas that is notable for its anesthetic, analgesic, anxiolytic and euphoric properties. We identified and localized in the rat brain the opioid receptor subtypes that mediate nitrous oxide antinociception, provided the first chemical evidence for N2O-induced neuronal release of endogenous opioid peptides in rats and have implicated a regulatory role for nitric oxide (NO) in the neuronal release of opioid peptides.We have also reported that N2O produces significant relief of anxiety in different animal models of experimental anxiety. This anxiolytic effect is independent of the antinociceptive effect of N2O and appears to be mediated by benzodiazepine sites on the g-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor and also involve NO.
Teaching Expertise: Dr. Quock is a classically trained pharmacologist who has taught a broad range of topics in pharmacology to different health science professional students, including pharmacy, medical, veterinary, dental, nursing and physical therapy, as well as medical and dental residents. In the professional program, he has taught autonomic pharmacology, neuropharmacology, psychopharmacology and drug abuse to Pharm. D.students. He has won many teaching awards and was also the Winsor C. Cutting Distinguished Visiting Professor in Pharmacology at the John A. Burns School of Medicine of the University of Hawaii-Manoa in 2002. He was a Councilor and member of the Executive Committee of the Division for Pharmacology Education of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET).
Other Affiliations
Pharmaceutical Sciences Graduate Program (Washington State Univ.)
Neuroscience Graduate Program (Washington State Univ.)
HealthWISE (San Joaquin County Office of Education)
Professional Affiliations
American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
Society for Neuroscience
International Behavioral Neuroscience Society
Western Pharmacology Society
American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
International Editorial Advisory Board, Life Sciences
Editorial Board, Advances in Pharmacological Sciences
Biographical Information 
Raymond Quock obtained his B.S. degree in biology from the University of San Francisco in 1970 and his Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Washington in 1974. He spent one year as an instructor in pharmacology at the University of Washington (1974-75) and the next four years as an assistant professor of pharmacology at the University of the Pacific School of Pharmacy in Stockton, California (1975-79). He then worked at the Marquette University School of Dentistry in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1979-89), moving through the ranks of assistant professor, associate professor and eventually to full professor. He also held adjunct positions and taught at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the V.A. Medical Center. He then left Milwaukee for the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford (1989-98), where he was professor of pharmacology and also adjunct professor of pharmacology in anesthesiology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago (1993-98). He joined Washington State University as professor and chair of pharmaceutical sciences in the College of Pharmacy in January, 1999. He was named to the President’s Teaching Academy in 2004. In 2007, he was appointed to a second term as department chair and was named the Allen I. White Distinguished Professor.
Recent Publications
D.E. Emmanouil, A.S. Dickens, R.W. Heckert, Y. Ohgami, E. Chung, S. Han and R.M. Quock. Nitrous oxide-antinociception is mediated by opioid receptors and nitric oxide in the periaqueductal gray region of the brain. European Neuropsychopharmacology 18(3):194–199 (2008)
Y. Ohgami, E. Chung, D.Y. Shirachi and R.M. Quock. Influence of hyperbaric oxygen on regional brain levels and spinal cord levels of nitric oxide metabolites in rat. Brain Research Bulletin 75(3):668-673 (2008)
L.M. Zelinski, Y. Ohgami, E. Chung, D.Y. Shirachi and R.M. Quock. A prolonged NO-dependent, opioid-mediated antinociceptive effect of hyperbaric oxygen in mice. Journal of Pain 10(2):167-172 (2009).
M. Ishikawa, J. Moyer, J.A. Wolf, P. Mu, R.M. Quock, N.M. Davies, X.T. Hu, O.M. Schlüter and Y. Dong. Homeostatic synapse-driven membrane plasticity in nucleus accumbens neurons. Journal of Neuroscience 29(18):5820-5831 (2009)
Ohgami, Y., C.C. Zylstra, L.P. Quock, E. Chung, D.Y. Shirachi and R.M. Quock. Nitric oxide in hyperbaric oxygen-induced acute antinociception in mice. NeuroReport 20(15):1325-1329 (2009)
Zelinski, L.M., Y. Ohgami and R.M. Quock. Exposure to nitrous oxide stimulates a nitric oxide-dependent neuronal release of β-endorphin in ventricular cisternally-perfused rats. Brain Research 1300:37-40 (2009)
Cope, J.L., E. Chung, Y. Ohgami and R.M. Quock. Antagonism of the antinociceptive effect of nitrous oxide by inhibition of enzyme activity or expression of nitric oxide synthase. European Journal of Pharmacology (in press, 2010)
Recent Presentations at Scientific Conferences
E. Chung, Y. Ohgami and R.M. Quock. Increasing the availability of nitric oxide (NO) increases sensitivity of nitrous oxide (N2O)-insensitive inbred mice to N2O-induced antinociception. Experimental Biology 2008, San Diego, CA, April 5-9, 2008. FASEB Journal 22:711.15 (2008)
C.C. Zylstra, Y. Ohgami, E. Chung, D.Y. Shirachi and R.M. Quock. Comparison of the antinociceptive effect of two pharmacological gases, nitrous oxide (N2O) and hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2). Experimental Biology 2008, San Diego, CA , April 5-9, 2008. FASEB Journal 22:711.16 (2008)
C.C. Zylstra, L.M. Zelinski, E. Chung, D.Y. Shirachi and R.M. Quock. Role of nitric oxide (NO) in the hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2)-induced long-lasting activation of endogenous opioid systems in mice. Experimental Biology 2008, San Diego, CA , April 5-9, 2008. FASEB Journal 22:711.17 (2008)
Y. Ohgami, E. Chung and R.M. Quock. Nitrous oxide (N2O)-induced nitric oxide (NO)-dependent release of β-endorphin (β-EP) from the arcuate nucleus to stimulate opioid receptors in the periaqueductal gray (PAG) to cause antinociception in the rat. Experimental Biology 2008, San Diego, CA, April 5-9, 2008. FASEB Journal 22:711.18 (2008)
W.R. Lariviere, R.M. Quock, J.K. Belknap and H. Hain. Detection of regions of the mouse genome (QTLs) associated with sensitivity in a visceral inflammatory pain model. Neuroscience 2008, Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, November 15-19, 2008. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts, 34:174.2 (2008)
M. Ishikawa, R.M. Quock and Y. Dong. Homeostatic synapse-driven membrane plasticity in nucleus accumbens neurons. Neuroscience 2008, Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, November 15-19, 2008. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts 34:540.1 (2008)
J.L. Lack, Y. Ohgami, E. Chung, D.Y. Shirachi and R.M. Quock. Nitric oxide (NO)-dependency of the antinociceptive response of mice to the pharmacological gases nitrous oxide (N2O) and hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2). Neuroscience 2008, Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, November 15-19, 2008. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts 34:849.6 (2008)
E. Chung, L.M. Zelinski, Y. Ohgami, D.Y. Shirachi and R.M. Quock. Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) induces a two-phase antinociceptive response of unusually long duration in mice. Experimental Biology 2009, New Orleans, LA, April 18-22, 2009. FASEB Journal 23:742.1 (2009)
C.K. Winkle, R.M. Rich, E. Chung, D.Y. Shirachi and R.M. Quock. Differential involvement of 5-hydroxytryptamine1A (5-HT1A) receptors in the antinociceptive effects of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) in mice. Experimental Biology 2009, New Orleans, LA, April 18-22, 2009. FASEB Journal 23:742.2 (2009)
L.M. Zelinski, Y. Ohgami and R.M. Quock. Exposure to nitrous oxide (N2O) increases levels of nitric oxide (NO) metabolites and β-endorphin (β-EP) in ventricular‑cisternally (VC)-perfused rats. Experimental Biology 2009, New Orleans, LA, April 18-22, 2009. FASEB Journal 23:742.3 (2009)
Y. Ohgami, E. Chung, H.C. Lai, R.M. Quock and C.A. Elstad. The effect of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) on the anticancer effect of artemesinin on Molt-4 human leukemia cells. Experimental Biology 2009, New Orleans, LA, April 18-22, 2009. FASEB Journal 23:925.15 (2009)