Peripheral Thermal Injury On Cerebral Integrity

Thermal injury is characterized by increased microvascular permeability, which causes massive fluid volume requirements during resuscitation. Peripheral tissue thermal injury often causes systemic reactions, such as fever, hyperalgesia, anorexia, and increased permeability of the blood-brain-barrier (BBB). Since thermal injury remains one of the leading causes of childhood death in the United States (one million children are injured and 3,000 children die each year as a result of burn trauma, according to the Children’s burn Awareness Program, Chicago), and since generalized encephalopathy is the most common neurologic complication of thermal injury in children occurring with a 14% incidence, research on the effect of peripheral thermal injury on cerebrovascular integrity is essential.

The two specific aims of our current studies are 1) to evaluate injurious effect of peripheral thermal injury on BBB integrity; 2) to investigate inflammatory mechanisms underlying BBB dysfunction. These studies could provide important new information on the mechanistic tissues in thermal injury on the central nervous system in the rat model. The results may lead to development of effective therapies on thermal injury beyond the level that current treatments achieve.

Recent Publications in Peer-reviewed Journals:

Barone M, Jimenez DF, Huxley VH, Yang XY. (1997) Morphologic Analysis of the Cerebral Microcirculation after Thermal Injury and the Response to Fluid ResuscitationActa Neurochirurgica Supplements. 70:267-268

Barone M, Jimenez DF, Huxley VH, Yang XY. (1997) Cerebral Vascular Response to Hypertonic Fluid Resuscitation in Thermal InjuryActa Neurochirurgica Supplements. 70:254-256

Barone M, Jimenez DF, Huxley VH, Yang XY. (2000) In Vivo Visualization of Cerebral Microcirculation in Systemic Thermal InjuryJournal of Burn Care & Rehabilitation. 21:20-25

Jimenez DF, Barone CM, Tigno T Yang XF, Clapper A. (1997) The Effects of Methylmethacrylate’s Hyperthermic Polymerization on Cerebral Vascular PermeabilityActa Neurochirurgica Supplements. 70:265-266

Berger J, Sprague SM, Wu Y, Davis WW, Barone CM, Jimenez DF, Ding Y(2005) Blood Brain Barrier Dysfunction after Peripheral Thermal Injury Is Associated with Early Expression of Matrix Metalloproteinase (MMP) in Rat

Berger J, Sprague SM, Wu Y, Mrizek M., Davis WW, Barone CM, Jimenez FD, Ding Y (2005) Peripheral Thermal Injury Causes Brain Inflammation Which is Modulated by Cytokines

Reyes Jr. R, Wu YM, Lai Q, Mrizek M, Berger J, Jimenez DF, Barone CM, Ding Y. (2006). Early Inflammatory Rresponse in Rat Brain after Peripheral Thermal Injury. Neuroscience Letters. 407 (1):11-5.

Ding YH, Mrizek M, Lai Q, Wu Y, Li J, Davis W, Ding Y. (2006 Exercise Preconditioning Inhibit Expressions of TNF- α Receptors in Stroke. Current Neurovascular Res. 3 (4):263-71.

Swann K, Berger J, Sprague S, Wu Y, Davis W, Jimenez DF, Barone CM, Ding Y. (2007) Peripheral Thermal Injury Causes Early Blood Brain Barrier Dysfunction Associated with Expression of Matrix Metalloproteinase (MMP) in Rat. Brain Res. 1129: 26-33

Berger J, Sprague S, Wu Y, Davis W, Jimenez DF, Barone CM, Ding Y. (2007) Peripheral Thermal Injury Causes Early Blood Brain Barrier Dysfunction Associated with Expression of Matrix Metalloproteinase (MMP) in Rat. Neurological Res. (in press)