Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is common in adolescents and young adults and is frequently associated with a high risk for long-term disability and mortality. Unique to pediatric TBI is the increased danger of developing cerebral edema, a phenomenon thought to be related to higher brain water content in the young and to developmental differences of the brain's response to injury. Likewise, the developing brain is more susceptible to excitotoxic, apoptotic and inflammatory injury at a time when plasticity is critical in promoting endogenous recovery as well as in response to exogenous pharmaceutical treatment. Recent studies have demonstrated that two novel proteins/pathways (aquaporins, AQPs;c-Jun N terminal kinase, c-JNK) play critical roles at different overlapping points in the cascade of events after ischemic and traumatic brain injury. AQPs are a unique class of water channels and AQP4, the most abundant brain AQP, plays a critical role in edema formation and constitutes an excellent molecular candidate for the development of novel agents to reduce post-TBI edema. AQPs also recently have been shown to participate in other pathways that contribute to brain injury and repair. JNK pathways, mediated by glutamate-calcium activation, trigger mitochondrial cascades of programmed cell death, accelerate MAP kinase neuronal death and participate in production of proinflammatory mediators from glial cells. Of great clinical interest is that in the last two years novel agents have been developed to inhibit these two pathways: (i) small interference RNA (siRNA) against AQP4, siAQP4;and (ii) D-JNKI1, a protease-resistant JNK-inhibiting peptide. This proposal will test the hypothesis that these novel agents can inhibit these two proteins/pathways and that when combined they will have a synergistic effect in reducing magnetic resonance imaging, histological and behavioral outcomes in a juvenile TBI model.

Public Health Relevance

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is common in children and adolescents and is frequently associated with a high risk of long-term disability and mortality. Unique to pediatric TBI is the greater danger of developing cerebral edema, as well as the greater susceptibility to excitotoxic, apoptotic and inflammatory injury. Recent studies have demonstrated that two novel proteins/pathways (aquaporins, AQPS;c-Jun N terminal kinase, c-JNK) play critical roles in the cascade of events after ischemia and TBI. Novel agents have been developed to inhibit these two pathways: (i) small interference RNA (siRNA) against AQP4, siAQP4;and (ii) D-JNKI1, a protease-resistant JNK-inhibiting peptide. This proposal will test the hypothesis that these novel agents will inhibit these two proteins/pathways and this will have a synergistic effect in reducing magnetic resonance imaging, histological and behavioral outcomes in a juvenile controlled cortical impact model of TBI.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HD061946-02
Application #
7878704
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZHD1-RRG-K (03))
Program Officer
Ansel, Beth
Project Start
2009-07-01
Project End
2014-06-30
Budget Start
2010-07-01
Budget End
2011-06-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$363,887
Indirect Cost
Name
Loma Linda University
Department
Pediatrics
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
009656273
City
Loma Linda
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
92350
Jullienne, Amandine; Fukuda, Andrew M; Ichkova, Aleksandra et al. (2018) Modulating the water channel AQP4 alters miRNA expression, astrocyte connectivity and water diffusion in the rodent brain. Sci Rep 8:4186
Hirt, Lorenz; Fukuda, Andrew M; Ambadipudi, Kamalakar et al. (2017) Improved long-term outcome after transient cerebral ischemia in aquaporin-4 knockout mice. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 37:277-290
Margulies, Susan; Anderson, Gail; Atif, Fahim et al. (2016) Combination Therapies for Traumatic Brain Injury: Retrospective Considerations. J Neurotrauma 33:101-12
Jullienne, Amandine; Obenaus, Andre; Ichkova, Aleksandra et al. (2016) Chronic cerebrovascular dysfunction after traumatic brain injury. J Neurosci Res 94:609-22
Badaut, J; Ajao, D O; Sorensen, D W et al. (2015) Caveolin expression changes in the neurovascular unit after juvenile traumatic brain injury: signs of blood-brain barrier healing? Neuroscience 285:215-26
Jullienne, Amandine; Roberts, Jill M; Pop, Viorela et al. (2014) Juvenile traumatic brain injury induces long-term perivascular matrix changes alongside amyloid-beta accumulation. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 34:1637-45
Badaut, Jérôme; Fukuda, Andrew M; Jullienne, Amandine et al. (2014) Aquaporin and brain diseases. Biochim Biophys Acta 1840:1554-65
Badaut, J; Bix, G J (2014) Vascular neural network phenotypic transformation after traumatic injury: potential role in long-term sequelae. Transl Stroke Res 5:394-406
Jullienne, Amandine; Badaut, Jérôme (2013) Molecular contributions to neurovascular unit dysfunctions after brain injuries: lessons for target-specific drug development. Future Neurol 8:677-689
Kamper, Joel E; Pop, Viorela; Fukuda, Andrew M et al. (2013) Juvenile traumatic brain injury evolves into a chronic brain disorder: behavioral and histological changes over 6months. Exp Neurol 250:8-19

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