JCBFM, August 2008.

 

You can find all the JCBFM summaries in web format at:

 

http://www.brainischemia.net

 

All articles are listed. My relevance assessment is entirely implicit and is designated with regard to work we are doing or contemplating RIGHT NOW. The relevance of an article might change in the future. Those papers with relevance rated VERY LOW do not get a Sullysummary.

 

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*1. Migraine and ischemic stroke: a debated question. Elisabetta Del Zotto et al.

 

Sullysummary: An epidemiological link between migraine-with-aura and ischemic stroke has become increasingly clear. In this (LONG) review, the authors discuss several important hypotheses - does migraine cause stroke? does stroke cause migraine? are stroke and migraine part of the same underlying neurovascular pathology? - and entertain the idea that migraine is actually a progressive neurodegenerative disease rather than an episodic one. THere's a lot of handwaving in some parts of this article, but to their credit the authors make a number of practical recommendations. Of interest primarily to the clinicians among us.

 

Relevance: Low.

Link (PDF): http://www.nature.com/jcbfm/journal/v28/n8/pdf/jcbfm200836a.pdf

 

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*2. Preischemic induction of TNF-a by physical exercise reduces blood–brain barrier dysfunction in stroke. Miao Guo et al.

 

Relevance: The senior author on this paper is our colleague Yuchuan Ding. The authors demonstrate, in a monofilament MCAO model, that exercise on a treademill for 3 weeks prior to ischemia leads to (a) upregulation of TNF-a and ERK1/2, (b) decreases stroke volume, (c) decreases brain edema, (d) maintains integrity of the BBB (as measured by Evans Blue extravasation, quantified by spec), (e) promotes expression of collagen IV, a component of the BL and BBB, and (f) decreases the level (Western blot) and activity (gel zymography) of MMP-9, a metalloprotease known to exert untoward effects on the BBB during reperfusion. This paper has some relevance to our postconditioning work, and is particularly interesting vis-a-vis the methods. In this JCBFM study, the authors (and, apparently, the editors) found it unnecessary to document brain perfusion with either LDF or MRI. Nor did they think it important to document neurobehavioral outcome. Interesting, and something to consider as we go forward with our MCAO work (which will be much more elaborate).

 

One thing that caught my eye: rats that "were not willing to run were excluded from further study." One has to wonder if these rats went back to vegging on the sofa, surfing cable and eating cheetos. Maybe not. In any event, this paper would seem to suggest that exercise is a sort of "preconditioning," working through via a TNF-alpha/ERK pathway. I think some of the data in this paper is a bit thin, but they're probably on to something.

 

So...Just Do It.

 

Relevance: Medium-HIGH. 

Link (PDF): http://www.nature.com/jcbfm/journal/v28/n8/pdf/jcbfm200829a.pdf

 

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*3. Antiangiogenic effect of inhibitors of cytochrome P450 on rats with glioblastoma multiforme. Drazen Zagorac et al.

 

Relevance: VERY LOW. 

Link (PDF): http://www.nature.com/jcbfm/journal/v28/n8/pdf/jcbfm200831a.pdf

 

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*4. Magnetic resonance imaging investigation of axonal remodeling and angiogenesis after embolic stroke in sildenafil-treated rats. Guangliang Ding et al.

 

Relevance: VERY LOW.

Link (PDF): http://www.nature.com/jcbfm/journal/v28/n8/pdf/jcbfm200833a.pdf

 

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*5. In situ mouse carotid perfusion model: glucose and cholesterol transport in the eye and brain. Julie Cattelotte et al.

 

Relevance: VERY LOW.

Link (PDF): http://www.nature.com/jcbfm/journal/v28/n8/pdf/jcbfm200834a.pdf

 

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*6. Neurogenesis after primary intracerebral hemorrhage in adult human brain. Jianfeng Shen et al.

 

Sullysummary:  The main finding of this study is that evidence for neurogenesis can be detected in perihematomal brain regions after ICH in humans. How did they do it? They took "consenting" patients undergoing evacuation of intracerebral hematomas to surgery and sampled perihematomal brain tissue. Only in China could you get patients to "consent" to allowing the surgeon to scoop out some good brain along with the clot.

 

(Actually, that's a little unfair--evacuation almost always results in some debridement. I scrubbed on the resection of an astrocytoma from some poor lady's temporal lobe once. Never forget it. During the procedure, the surgeon asked me: "DO you know how to tell the difference between good brain and bad brain?" I shook my head. "It's the way it sounds going through the sucker," he said. )

 

ANYHOO, this data is primarily from immunofluorescence -- no quantitative data is really provided, so it's all to be taken with a grain of salt, although I think the conclusions are probably right and no longer that surprising. When we get our focal ischemia model up and running, we may want to look at how combination therapy effects neurogenesis in the penumbra, and at that time this paper might be a useful starting-off point.

 

Relevance: LOW

Link (PDF): http://www.nature.com/jcbfm/journal/v28/n8/pdf/jcbfm200837a.pdf

 

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*7. Adenosine modulates ERK1/2, PI3K/Akt, and p38MAPK activation in the brain of the anoxia-tolerant turtle Trachemys scripta. Sarah L Milton et al.

 

Sullysummary: HEre's what happens when you subject anoxia-resistant turtles to anoxia, with and without adenosine inhibitor. There are few surprises here: ERK1/2 and Akt are transiently upregulated and p38 transiently downregulated. All of this was blocked by aminophylline, an adenosine receptor antagonist. However, it is important to note that aminophylline has _widespread_ physiologic effects (we don't use it much anymore in clinical medicine because it's too easy to poison people with it), so the specificity of this finding is in doubt. The authors conclude that the differenctial modulation of MAPK/Akt pathways may be critical for neuronal protection during anoxia. Sure.

 

Relevance: 

Link (PDF): http://www.nature.com/jcbfm/journal/v28/n8/pdf/jcbfm200845a.pdf

 

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*8. Effects of citalopram infusion on the serotonin transporter binding of [11C]DASB in healthy controls. Rainer Hinz et al.

 

Relevance: VERY LOW.

Link (PDF): http://www.nature.com/jcbfm/journal/v28/n8/pdf/jcbfm200841a.pdf

 

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*9. Dynamic changes in vascular permeability, cerebral blood volume, vascular density, and size after transient focal cerebral ischemia in rats: evaluation with contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging. Chien-Yuan Lin et al.

 

Relevance:  VERY LOW.

Link (PDF): http://www.nature.com/jcbfm/journal/v28/n8/pdf/jcbfm200842a.pdf

 

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*10. Regional rates of cerebral protein synthesis measured with L-[1-11C]leucine and PET in conscious, young adult men: normal values, variability, and reproducibility. Shrinivas Bishu et al.

 

Relevance:  VERY LOW.

Link (PDF): http://www.nature.com/jcbfm/journal/v28/n8/pdf/jcbfm200843a.pdf

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*12. Measuring the effects of remifentanil on cerebral blood flow and arterial arrival time using 3D GRASE MRI with pulsed arterial spin labelling. Bradley J MacIntosh et al.

 

Relevance:  VERY LOW.

Link (PDF): http://www.nature.com/jcbfm/journal/v28/n8/pdf/jcbfm200846a.pdf

 

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END SUMMARY.