Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Elucidating The Role Of The Tumor Suppressor Gene Rna-Binding Motif 5 (Rbm5) In Models Of Traumatic Brain Injury, Kara L. Snyder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a worldwide health burden that causes death and disability. Clinical management of TBI involves guideline-based protocols to limit secondary brain injury but there remains an unmet need for therapeutics to target neuroprotection and to improve cognitive outcomes in patients. This dissertation concerns the examination of RNA binding motif 5 (RBM5) as a potential therapeutic gene target to promote neuroprotection in models of TBI. RBM5 is a potent pro-death tumor suppressor gene in cancer. We hypothesized that it also promotes cell death in neurons in the brain and therefore its inhibition would decrease neuropathology following CNS …

Sigma Receptor Activation Mitigates Toxicity Evoked By The Convergence Of Ischemia, Acidosis And Amyloid-Beta, Adam Alexander Behensky

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States and a major cause of long-term disability in industrialized countries. The core region of an ischemic stroke dies within minutes due to activation of necrotic pathways. Outside of this core region is the penumbral zone, where some perfusion is maintained via collateral arteries. Delayed cell death occurs in this area due to the triggering of apoptotic mechanisms, which expands the ischemic injury over time. The cellular and molecular events that produce the expansion of the ischemic core continue to be poorly understood. The increases in the amyloid precursor …

Immunomodulatory Effects Of Novel Therapies For Stroke, Aaron A. Hall

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Each year, approximately 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke. About 610,000 of these are first attacks, and 185,000 are recurrent attacks (Carandang et al. 2006). Currently the only FDA approved treatment for ischemic stroke is recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (Alteplase) (Marler and Goldstein 2003). Unfortunately its use is restricted to a short, 4.5 hour, time window. Two promising therapies in the treatment of stroke at delayed timepoints are human umbilical cord blood cells (HUCBC) and the sigma receptor agonist DTG

The first series of experiments were conducted to characterize the effects of sigma receptors on various aspects of …

The Role Of Extracellular Matrix And Matrix-Degrading Proteases In Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Injury, Christopher C. Leonardo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Improvements in medical care over recent decades have increased the number of premature and low birth weight infants that survive hypoxic-ischemic (H-I) insults. Because there is a rising incidence in diseases associated with these events, it is critical to develop effective therapies to treat the various resulting neuropathies. Extracellular matrix constitutes the majority of brain parenchyma. Lecticans and matrix-degrading proteases including ADAMTSs (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin repeats) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) exert effects on cell viability and may be associated with either protective or destructive processes after H-I. Both ADAMTSs (Cross et al. 2006; Tian et al. 2007) …