Electrophysiological and Anatomical Assessment of Spinal Cord Injury
报告人:
Angelo All
M.B.A., M.D. Research Associate Faculty Departments of Neurology and Biomedical Engineering School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, USA
报告时间:
2009-03-05 15:30
报告地点:
医学院 B321
主办单位:
清华-霍普金斯生物医学工程联合中心/医学院生物医学工程系
简介:
According to the NIH, among neurological disorders, spinal cord injury (SCI)’s cost to society ranks second only after mental retardation. Even a small number of spared fibers after SCI, with immediate treatment, can greatly improve the quality of life of patients. Knowledge about the spared fibers sooner rather than later will help physicians to plan strategic treatment and limit secondary injury and devise ways to prevent progression of the injury. In addition, research in the area of stem cell and gene therapies aims to produce therapeutically-induced functional recovery in the animal model, yet the existing methods lack the ability to quantitatively measure, in vivo, the resulting regeneration and neurophysiologic recovery of the spinal cord. This need motivates us to develop experimental methods and quantitative assessment techniques for event-related neurological monitoring of SCI recovery and rehabilitation. I will present experimental methods to create calibrated SCI in two model systems: Contusion and Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis (EAE). Next, I will present neuro-electrophysiological function monitoring using Somatosensory Evoked Potentials (SEP). The results from SEP signal analysis are compared with the traditional behavioral analysis (BBB open-field test) and histology.The second part of our research involves investigating the effects of therapeutic hypothermia and stem cell therapy. I will present preliminary results of the effects of temperature manipulation on the SEP signals and the results of transplanting human embryonic stem cell derived immature oligodendrocytes to aid recovery of spinal cord structure and function. These two research domains form the primary focus of our long term research on developing diagnostic and therapeutic methods for evaluating and treating spinal cord injury.
