Oxygen Depletion in Brains of Epileptics May Predict the Onset of Seizures
High-Tech Imaging May Lead to Development of New Therapies
Researchers have discovered brief moments of oxygen deprivation prior to an epileptic seizure in the areas of the brain where the episodes occur. Detecting dropping oxygen in the tissue — called hypoxia — may eventually lead to the development of therapies that recognize these events and prevent the seizures from occurring. Experts have published results in three different peer-reviewed journals describing their observations in brains of rats and humans.
Using special high-resolution video cameras, Dr. Theodore H. Schwartz, a neurosurgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and his team, including Drs. Hongtao Ma and Mingrui Zhao, are able to capture visible changes in blood flow inside the brain. Hemoglobin, the molecule in the blood that delivers oxygen to tissues in the body, changes color from dark to bright red when oxygenated, allowing scientists to see visible changes in oxygen delivery to the brain in real-time. Dr. Schwartz believes that oxygen deprivation to the same areas over time may explain the brain damage and increasing severity of seizures in epileptic patients.
Dr. Schwartz, who is also a professor of neurological surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College, says in the future a device that can detect hypoxia in the brain, and then deliver a drug to prevent epilepsy, may be able to counteract and prevent a seizure before it happens. The idea is similar to a pacemaker that prevents irregular pumping of the heart.
The three studies have recently been published in the Journal of Neuroscience, the Journal of Neurophysiology, and the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism.
Mutant Gene May Play Role in Crohn's Disease
Anti-Inflammatory Protein Lowered by Mutation
Weill Cornell scientists have discovered how a genetic mutation contributes to Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel condition. Dr. Xiaojing Ma, professor of microbiology & immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College, and his team determined that the gene mutation, found in nearly half of Crohn's patients, hampers production of an anti-inflammatory protein, called interleukin-10 (IL-10).
New results published in a recent issue of Nature Immunology show that the mutant NOD2 gene leads to a lowered production of IL-10. Before now, it was unclear how the mutation influences Crohn's in humans, because mice with the mutation produce normal levels of IL-10.
Cells harvested from human patients with the mutation were found to produce less IL-10 in laboratory experiments. The researchers hope their findings will eventually lead to therapies that can overcome the IL-10 deficiency in Crohn's patients.
Better Understanding of a Childhood Respiratory Virus
Promising Cell Model Yields Realistic Results
Researchers are testing a new approach in order to better understand the lifecycle of the parainfluenza virus — a major cause of respiratory illness in children. Virologists from Weill Cornell Medical College are studying human lung cells outside of the body in a way that they believe will yield a more realistic laboratory model.
Gaining a better understanding of how the virus acts may help to develop novel approaches to combat the virus in the lab. The parainfluenza virus can cause croup, bronchiolitis, and pneumonia in infants and young children, and raises the risk of future chronic ailments like asthma.
Dr. Anne Moscona, professor of pediatrics and microbiology & immunology, and Dr. Matteo Porotto, assistant professor of pediatrics and microbiology & immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College, are mimicking the body's natural environment using human airway epithelium (HAE) cells, which normally line the inside of the lung.
In the lung, these HAE cells are exposed to air on one surface, and to a liquid environment on the other side. But in traditional laboratory experiments, scientists often study biochemical processes in cell culture — usually a single layer of cells completely immersed in a liquid-filled dish. Dr. Moscona's research team is mimicking the lung's natural environment in the lab by exposing one cell-surface to air and the other to a nutrient-rich liquid environment.
Before using this technique, the scientists say that it was difficult to observe a realistic picture of the virus' behavior in cell cultures. Early findings show that the virus infects, propagates, and exits the body's host cells much more like how they observe within animal models.
Statin Drugs May Prevent Miscarriage
Cholesterol Drug Blocks Inflammation and Thrombosis in Placenta
Drugs normally prescribed to prevent cardiovascular disease may also prevent miscarriages, according to Weill Cornell scientists. Researchers found that spontaneous miscarriages were prevented in mice after giving them a common statin drug, called pravastatin (Pravachol).
The research team, led by Dr. Guillermina Girardi, assistant professor of pharmacology in medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, studied a mouse model that mirrors recurrent spontaneous miscarriages and found that these mice had high levels of tissue factor (TF), a protein that promotes inflammation and clotting. Statin drugs are used to prevent clotting and inflammation within the cardiovascular system, so the scientists hypothesized that they may also help to prevent miscarriages.
Dr. Girardi found that pravastatin diminishes TF levels, and therefore prevents thrombosis and restores placental blood flow. Further clinical studies are under way to determine if the same strategy is effective in women. This study was recently published in the journal BLOOD, a publication of the American Society of Hematology.
