Effects of Cyclosporin A on Neurological Outcome and Serum Biomarkers in the Same Setting of Spinal Cord Ischemia Model

Histological Findings After Aortic Cross-Clamping in Preclinical Animal Models

Spinal cord ischemic injury and paralysis are devastating complications after open surgical repair of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms. Preclinical models have been developed to simulate the clinical paradigm to better understand the neuropathophysiology and develop therapeutic treatment. Neuropathological findings in the preclinical models have not been comprehensively examined before. This systematic review studies the past 40 years of the histological findings after open surgical repair in preclinical models. Our main finding is that damage is predominantly in the grey matter of the spinal cord, although white matter damage in the spinal cord is also reported. Future research needs to examine the neuropathological findings in preclinical models after endovascular repair, a newer type of surgical repair used to treat aortic aneurysms.

Limiting spinal cord injury by pharmacological intervention

The direct primary mechanical trauma to neurons, glia and blood vessels that occurs with spinal cord injury (SCI) is followed by a complex cascade of biochemical and cellular changes which serve to increase the size of the injury site and the extent of cellular and axonal loss. The aim of neuroprotective strategies in SCI is to limit the extent of this secondary cell loss by inhibiting key components of the evolving injury cascade. In this review we will briefly outline the pathophysiological events that occur in SCI, and then review the wide range of neuroprotective agents that have been evaluated in preclinical SCI models. Agents will be considered under the following categories: antioxidants, erythropoietin and derivatives, lipids, riluzole, opioid antagonists, hormones, anti-inflammatory agents, statins, calpain inhibitors, hypothermia, and emerging strategies. Several clinical trials of neuroprotective agents have already taken place and have generally had disappointing results. In attempting to identify promising new treatments, we will therefore highlight agents with (1) low known risks or established clinical use, (2) behavioral data gained in clinically relevant animal models, (3) efficacy when administered after the injury, and (4) robust effects seen in more than one laboratory and/or more than one model of SCI.

Translational bioinformatics and systems biology approaches for personalized medicine

Systems biology and pharmacogenomics are emerging and promising fields that will provide a thorough understanding of diseases and enable personalized therapy. However, one of the most significant obstacles in the practice of personalized medicine is the translation of scientific discoveries into better therapeutic outcomes. Translational bioinformatics is a powerful method to bridge the gap between systems biology research and clinical practice. This goal can be achieved through providing integrative methods to enable predictive models for therapeutic responses. As a media between bench and bedside, translational bioinformatics has the mission to meet challenges in the development of personalized medicine. On the biomedical side, translational bioinformatics would enable the identification of biomarkers based on systemic analyses. It can improve the understanding of the correlations between genotypes and phenotypes. It would enable novel insights of interactions and interrelationships among different parts in a whole system. On the informatics side, methods based on data integration, data mining, and knowledge representation can provide decision support for both researchers and clinicians. Data integration is not only for better data access, but also for knowledge discovery. Decision support based on translational bioinformatics means better information and workflow management, efficient literature and resource retrieval, and communication improvement. These approaches are crucial for understanding diseases and applying personalized therapeutics at systems levels.

Evaluation of transcriptional activity of caspase-3 gene as a marker of acute neurotoxicity in rat cerebellar granular cells

Caspase-3 is a key protein involved in the classical apoptosis mechanism in neurons, as in many other cells types. In the present research, we describe the transcriptional activity of caspase-3 gene as a marker of acute toxicity in a primary culture model of rat cerebellar granule neurons (CGNs). CGNs were incubated for 16h in complete medium containing the chemicals at three concentrations (10, 100microM and 1mM). A total of 48 different compounds were tested. Gene transcriptional activity was determined by low-density array assays, and by single Taqman caspase-3 assays. Results from the PCR arrays showed that the caspase-3 gene was up-regulated when CGNs were exposed to neurotoxic chemicals. Significative correlations were found between the transcriptional activity of caspase-3 and the activity of some other genes related to apoptosis, cell-cycle and ROS detoxification. In our experiments, acute exposure of CGNs to well-documented pro-apoptotic xenobiotics modulated significantly caspase-3 gene expression, whereas chemicals not related to apoptosis did not modify caspase-3 gene expression. In conclusion, acute exposure of CGNs to neurotoxic compounds modulates the transcriptional activity of genes involved in the classical apoptotic pathway, oxidative stress and cell-cycle control. Transcriptional activity of caspase-3 correlates significantly with these changes and it could be a good indicator of acute neurotoxicity.