Trauma is the leading cause of death in people under the age of 40 and MODS is the leading cause of death in intensive care units. Consequently, understanding the mechanisms by which trauma-hemorrhagic shock (T/HS) leads to MODS is of major health importance in this country. One of the major hypotheses being studied to explain the development of sepsis and MODS after trauma is the gut hypothesis of MODS. Additionally, there is recent experimental and clinical information that the response to injury and sepsis may differ between males and females. Thus, the overall global hypothesis of this grant is that trauma hemorrhagic (T/HS) shock-induced early distant organ injury and cellular dysfunction is secondary to gut injury and is primarily mediated by factors exiting the gut via the mesenteric lymphatics. Our secondary major hypothesis is that gender and sex hormones modulate gut and hence distant organ and cellular dysfunction after T/HS. These hypotheses are supported by our preliminary studies indicating that T/HSinduced lung injury and endothelial cell activation/dysfunction (Project by Deitch), neutrophil activation (Project by Hauser), red blood cell dysfunction (Project by MachiedoI) and bone marrow failure (Project by Kaiser) in male rats are mediated primarily by factors exiting the gut in the mesenteric lymph. Additionally, our studies show that proestrus female rats are resistant to these T/HS-induced injuries. Based on these results showing that female rats are more resistant to T/HS than male rats, the effects of gender and sex hormone modulation on cellular and organ dysfunction will be investigated. In all of the Projects, the mechanisms by which T/HS leads to these changes will be studied. Since T/HS-induced gut injury appears to be the initiating injury that induces this cascade of events, both Project by Deitch and Project by Feinman, will focus on determining the mechanisms by which T/HS leads to gut injury. Additionally, focused human studies in trauma patients will be carried out investigating trauma-induced neutrophil activation (Project by Hauser) and RBC dysfunction (Project by Machiedo). In summary, these projects will provide insight into the early mechanisms by which T/HS predisposes to MODS and will clarify the roles of gender and sex hormones as modulators of this response. The Administrative Core will serve to coordinate the activities of the various projects as well as be an information nexus, while the Animal Models Core will ensure consistency of the models being used and facilitate integration of the results obtained as well as reduce the costs of the overall proposal. The Human Core will serve to facilitate translational studies as well as aid in correlating the results of the human and animal studies. Lastly, Project by Kaiser focusing on factor isolation has been included to answer the question of what are the factors present in T/HS mesenteric lymph that are causing these changes in neutrophil, RBC and bone marrow function.
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