Nervous System Commons^™

Combining Electrospun Polydioxanone Scaffolds, Schwann Cells, And Matrigel To Improve Functional Recovery After A Complete Spinal Cord Transection In Rats, Ashok Kannan

Theses and Dissertations

Spinal cord injury (SCI) has presented itself as a multifaceted pathology that is largely inhibitory to regeneration, and therefore to functional recovery, even though spinal cord neurons have been found to be innately regenerative. Thus, having identified the key players in the inhibition of this innate regeneration, SCI researchers have focused on two major types of approaches: (1) blocking inhibitory cues and (2) promoting innate regeneration. Schwann cells (SCs) have long been shown to promote and enhance functional recovery after SCI through providing supplemental myelination and trophic and tropic factors to regenerating axons, though singular approaches rarely address the complex …

What Is The Role Of Free Radical Scavengers In Acute Stroke?, Muhammad Faisal Wadiwala, Ambreen Sonawalla, Ayeesha Kamran Kamal

Section of Neurology

No abstract provided.

Inhibition Of Injury-Induced Cell Proliferation In The Dentate Gyrus Impairs Cognitive Recovery Following Traumatic Brain Injury, Teresa Daniels

Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) induces a robust cellular proliferative response among neural stem/progenitor cells (NS/NPCs) in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. This proliferative effect is thought to contribute to the innate cognitive recovery observed following TBI. Inhibition of hippocampal neurogenesis impairs cognitive function. Furthermore, enhancement of injury-induced hippocampal neurogenesis via intraventricular administration of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) improves cognitive function in animals following TBI. In this experiment, we investigated the direct association between injury-induced hippocampal neurogenesis and cognitive recovery utilizing an antimitotic agent, arabinofuranosyl cytidine (Ara-C). In this study, adult rats received a moderate lateral fluid percussion injury …

The Effect Of Minocycline Treatment On Cell Proliferation And Neurogenesis In The Hippocampus In Young And Aged Brains Following Traumatic Brain Injury, Ashley Harvin

Theses and Dissertations

Following traumatic brain injury, there is an enhanced cell proliferative and neurogenic response in the young adult hippocampus, which may be associated with innate cognitive recovery. However, in the aged brain, an increased level of inflammatory cell responses was observed following injury concomitant to decreased hippocampal neurogenesis and cognitive recovery in the aging population. This suggests that excessive inflammation produced in the injured aging brain has a detrimental effect on neurogenesis and cognitive function. In this study, we examined the effect of anti-inflammatory treatment with minocycline on cell proliferation and generation of new neurons in the dentate gyrus (DG) of …

The Role Of Sulfatide In The Development And Maintenance Of The Nodal And Paranodal Domains In The Peripheral Nervous System, Heather Herman

Theses and Dissertations

Sulfatide is a galactolipid and a major lipid component of the myelin sheath. Its production is catalyzed by the enzyme cerebroside sulfotransferase (CST). To determine the functions of sulfatide, the gene encoding CST was genetically disrupted resulting in mice incapable of sulfatide synthesis. Using these mice, it has been shown in the central nervous system (CNS) that sulfatide is essential for normal myelin synthesis and stability even though the onset of myelination is not impaired. Additionally, proper initial clustering of paranodal proteins and cluster maintenance of nodal proteins is impaired suggesting that paranodal domains are important for long-term node stability. …

Early Hearing-Impairment Results In Crossmodal Reorganization Of Ferret Core Auditory Cortex, M. Alex Meredith, Brian L. Allman

Anatomy and Neurobiology Publications

Numerous investigations of cortical crossmodal plasticity, most often in congenital or early-deaf subjects, have indicated that secondary auditory cortical areas reorganize to exhibit visual responsiveness while the core auditory regions are largely spared. However, a recent study of adult-deafened ferrets demonstrated that core auditory cortex was reorganized by the somatosensory modality. Because adult animals have matured beyond their critical period of sensory development and plasticity, it was not known if adult-deafening and early-deafening would generate the same crossmodal results. The present study used young, ototoxically-lesioned ferrets () that, after maturation (avg. = 173 days old), showed significant hearing deficits (avg. …

Cognitive Effects Of One Season Of Head Impacts In A Cohort Of Collegiate Contact Sport Athletes, Thomas W. Mcallister,, Laura A. Flashman, Arthur C. Maerlender, Richard M. Greenwald, Jonathan G. Beckwith, Tor D. Tosteson, Joe Crisco, Per Gunner Brolinson, Stefan Duma, Ann-Christine Duhaime, M. R. Grove, John H. Turco

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Objective: To determine whether exposure to repetitive head impacts over a single season negatively affects cognitive performance in collegiate contact sport athletes.

Methods: This is a prospective cohort study at 3 Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association athletic programs. Participants were 214 Division I college varsity football and ice hockey players who wore instrumented helmets that recorded the acceleration-time history of the head following impact, and 45 noncontact sport athletes. All athletes were assessed prior to and shortly after the season with a cognitive screening battery (ImPACT) and a subgroup of athletes also were assessed with 7 measures from a …

Blast-Induced Brain Injury: Influence Of Shockwave Components, Dexter V. Reneer

Theses and Dissertations--Neuroscience

Blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) has been described as the defining injury of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF). Previously, most blast injury research has focused on the effects of blast on internal, gas filled organs due to their increased susceptibility. However, due to a change in enemy tactics combined with better armor and front-line medical care, bTBI has become one of the most common injuries due to blast. Though there has been a significant amount of research characterizing the brain injury produced by blast, a sound understanding of the contribution of each component of the shockwave to the …

Group I Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors On Selective Cellular Subtypes In Epileptogenic Malformed Cortex, William Bruch

Theses and Dissertations

Cortical malformations from altered development are common causes of human epilepsy. The cellular mechanisms responsible for the epileptic state of cortex remain unclear and a significant portion of these cases do not respond to treatment. Previous electrophysiological recordings in the Jacobs lab in a rat polymicrogyria model indicated an increased response to group I metabotropic glutamate receptor agonists in the region adjacent to the malformation (PMZ). In addition there was a novel response in low threshold spiking (LTS) interneurons via mGluR5 activation. To determine whether cell specific expression of these receptors was altered in malformed cortex immunohistochemical stains were performed …

Severe Lamotrigine Neurotoxicity Treated With Intralipid Emulsion Therapy, Philip W. Moore Do, Megan C. Urquhart Do, Dale L. Mcmillion Do, Keith K. Burkhart Md, Louis R. Cantilena Jr, Md, J Ward Donovan Md

Department of Emergency Medicine

No abstract provided.

Map Kinases Couple Hindbrain-Derived Catecholamine Signals To Hypothalamic Adrenocortical Control Mechanisms During Glycemia-Related Challenges, Arshad Khan, Kimberly Kaminski, Graciela Sanchez-Watts, Todd Ponzio, J. Kuzmiski, Jaideep Bains, Alan Watts

Selected Works Temporary Series

No abstract provided.

Map Kinases Couple Hindbrain-Derived Catecholamine Signals To Hypothalamic Adrenocortical Control Mechanisms During Glycemia-Related Challenges, Khan, Kimberly Kaminski, Graciela Sanchez-Watts, Todd Ponzio, J. Kuzmiski, Jaideep Bains, Alan Watts

Departmental Papers (Biology)

No abstract provided.

Functional Genomics Reveals An Essential And Specific Role For Stat1 In Protection Of The Central Nervous System Following Herpes Simplex Virus Corneal Infection, Tracy J. Pasieka, Cristian Cilloniz, Victoria S. Carter, Pamela Rosato, Michael G. Katze, David A. Leib

Dartmouth Scholarship

Innate immune deficiencies result in a spectrum of severe clinical outcomes following infection. In particular, there is a strong association between loss of the signal transducer and activator of transcription (Stat) pathway, breach of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), and virus-induced neuropathology. The gene signatures that characterize resistance, disease, and mortality in the virus-infected nervous system have not been defined. Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is commonly associated with encephalitis in humans, and humans and mice lacking Stat1 display increased susceptibility to HSV central nervous system (CNS) infections. In this study, two HSV-1 strains were used, KOS (wild type [WT]), …

Utilization Of Structural And Biochemical Cues To Enhance Peripheral Nerve Regeneration, Balendu Shekhar Jha

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the prospects of using the electrospinning process to fabricate tissue engineering scaffolds targeting a variety of regenerative applications, with a primary focus on the production of nerve guides for the treatment of long-defect nerve injuries in the peripheral nervous system. A basic overview of the conventional electrospinning process is provided, and the utility of this fabrication scheme in the production of collagen-based tissue engineering scaffolds is demonstrated. Next, a novel modification of the basic electrospinning process is presented. This process, called two pole air gap electrospinning, was developed to produce nerve guides that exhibit an anisotropic structure …

Strain-Dependent Variation In The Early Transcriptional Response To Cns Injury Using A Cortical Explant System, David J. Graber, Brent T. Harris, William F. Hickey

Dartmouth Scholarship

While it is clear that inbred strains of mice have variations in immunological responsiveness, the influence of genetic background following tissue damage in the central nervous system is not fully understood. A cortical explant system was employed as a model for injury to determine whether the immediate transcriptional response to tissue resection revealed differences among three mouse strains. Immunological mRNAs were measured in cerebral cortex from SJL/J, C57BL/6J, and BALB/cJ mice using real time RT-PCR. Freshly isolated cortical tissue and cortical sections incubated in explant medium were examined. Levels of mRNA, normalized to β-actin, were compared using one way analysis …

Initial Mlu Predicts The Relative Efficacy Of Two Grammatical Treatments In Preschoolers With Specific Language Impairments, Paul J. Yoder, Dennis L. Molfese, Elizabeth Gardner

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Purpose—We sought to confirm predictions based on past findings that pre-treatment mean length of utterance (MLU) would predict which of two grammatical treatments would best facilitate generalized and maintained grammatical development in preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI).

Method—The participants were 57 preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI). A randomized group experiment was used. The two grammatical treatments were Broad Target Recasts (BTR) and Milieu Language Teaching (MLT). MLU was assessed at Time 1 in two conversational language samples. Growth rate of productive grammar was quantified using growth curve modeling on the Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn) from …

Network Modulation During Complex Syntactic Processing, Dirk B. Den Ouden, Dorothee Saur, Wolfgang Mader, Björn Schelter, Sladjana Lukic, Eisha Wali, Jens Timmer, Cynthia K. Thompson

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

Complex sentence processing is supported by a left-lateralized neural network including inferior frontal cortex and posterior superior temporal cortex. This study investigates the pattern of connectivity and information flow within this network. We used fMRI BOLD data derived from 12 healthy participants reported in an earlier study (Thompson, C. K., Den Ouden, D. B., Bonakdarpour, B., Garibaldi, K., & Parrish, T. B. (2010b). Neural plasticity and treatment-induced recovery of sentence processing in agrammatism. Neuropsychologia, 48(11), 3211–3227) to identify activation peaks associated with object-cleft over syntactically less complex subject-cleft processing. Directed Partial Correlation Analysis was conducted on time series …

Assessing The Role Of Polyethylene Glycol (Peg) In Improving Functional Recovery Following Spinal Cord Injury, Dustin Dalton

Theses and Dissertations

Injury to the spinal cord results in the disruption of signal transmission between the brain and distal targets. It often presents with the loss of motor function and sensory perception below the level of injury. There are many obstacles following injury that must be overcome in order to encourage axon regeneration and improve functional recovery. A combinatorial approach is necessary to combat physical and chemical barriers to recovery. The fluid filled cyst that forms in the majority of spinal cord injuries presents a physical barrier that we treat with our electrospun bridges. We implanted our bridges into female Long Evans …

Interictal Magnetoencephalographic Findings Related With Surgical Outcomes In Lesional And Nonlesional Neocortical Epilepsy, Rui Zhang, Ting Wu, Yingying Wang, Hongyi Liu, Yuanjie Zou, Wen Liu, Jing Xiang, Chaoyong Xiao, Lu Yang, Zhen Fu

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Purpose: To investigate whether interictal magnetoencephalography (MEG) concordant with other techniques can predict surgical outcome in patients with lesional and nonlesional refractory neocortical epilepsy (NE).

Methods: 23 Patients with lesional NE and 20 patients with nonlesional NE were studied. MEG was recorded for all patients with a 275 channel whole-head system. Synthetic aperture magnetometry (SAM) with excess kurtosis (g2) and conventional Equivalent Current Dipole (ECD) were used for MEG data analysis. 27 Patients underwent long-term extraoperative intracranial video electroencephalography (iVEEG) monitoring. Surgical outcomes were assessed based on more than 1-year of post-surgical follow-up using Engel classification system.

Results: As we …

Differential Glial Cell Responses In The Dentate Gyrus In Young Adult And Aged Brains Following Traumatic Brain Injury, Christoher Shin

Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects 3 out of every 1000 Americans each year, and is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality after trauma, accounting for as many as 56,000 deaths per year (Dutton and McCunn, 2003). The Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention found that TBI most commonly occurs in adolescents and young adults aged from 15 to 24 years and in the elderly (75 years and older). Following injury, the secondary injury begins almost immediately after the primary injury and is the result of a number of cascades where once activated, exacerbate the already altered homeostasis of …