Brain damage after cerebral hypoxia-ischemia is a major contributor to death and disability in children. In fact, quality survival after brain injuryis the greatest irreversible unmet need in critically ill children, including those with co-morbiditie such as cancer. The most common cause of cerebral hypoxia-ischemia in infants and children is as a consequence of cardiac arrest; although, cerebral hypoxia-ischemia negatively impacts quality of life in many other diseases including traumatic brain injury, stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, and inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases. Disheartening morbidity or mortality with survivability directly related to the degree of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE)-and perceived futile care, are the most common outcomes. Robust therapies to prevent and/or treat cerebral hypoxia-ischemia after cardiac arrest and as a consequence of a host of other diseases are urgently needed. At the crux of hypoxia-ischemic injury, are mitochondria. After hypoxia-ischemia damaged mitochondria produce toxic free radicals that directly attack vital cellular constituents; are at the convergence of several critical cell death pathways; and ar powerful mediators of inflammation. Central to all of these potentially pathological mechanisms is the supraphysiologic generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), making mitochondria-generated ROS a logical and potentially impactful therapeutic target for HIE. To date, strategies targeting ROS have focused on free radical scavengers or replacing endogenous antioxidants to quench these highly reactive compounds. Disappointingly, these strategies have not translated into efficacious treatments. A paradigm-shifting approach is needed, e.g. preventing generation of ROS, rather than attempting to quench them. Novel compounds that target mitochondria include therapeutic payloads conjugated with: i) chemical moieties utilized in antibacterial agents that have a high affinity for mitochondrial membranes, taking advantage of the shared ancestry between mitochondria and bacteria; or ii) a cationic moiety, taking advantage of electrophoretic properties and mitochondrial membrane potential. As a multidisciplinary team, we are in the fortunate position to synthesize and develop a library of promising nitroxide-based, mitochondria-targeting therapeutics that function primarily as electron scavengers-in contrast to traditional antioxidants, thus preventing formation of ROS. Furthermore, we are uniquely poised to test these powerful mitochondria- targeting therapies in our models of hypoxia-ischemia in the developing brain, including our clinically relevant model of pediatric asphyxial cardiac arrest.
The aim of this research is to synthesize and develop novel mitochondria-targeting therapeutics, toward meaningfully improving neurological outcome and quality of life in infants and children suffering from cerebral hypoxia-ischemia.

Public Health Relevance

Quality survival after brain injury is the greatest unmet need in critically ill children. A major contributor to this unmet need is devastating morbidity and mortalty caused by hypoxia-ischemia. This research aims to synthesize and develop novel mitochondria-targeting therapeutics, toward meaningfully improving neurological outcome and quality of life in infants and children suffering from cerebral hypoxia-ischemia.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01NS084604-05
Application #
9406352
Study Section
Developmental Brain Disorders Study Section (DBD)
Program Officer
Koenig, James I
Project Start
2014-03-15
Project End
2019-12-31
Budget Start
2018-01-01
Budget End
2019-12-31
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2018
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Pittsburgh
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
004514360
City
Pittsburgh
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
15213
Anthonymuthu, Tamil S; Kenny, Elizabeth M; Lamade, Andrew M et al. (2018) Oxidized phospholipid signaling in traumatic brain injury. Free Radic Biol Med 124:493-503
Chao, Honglu; Anthonymuthu, Tamil S; Kenny, Elizabeth M et al. (2018) Disentangling oxidation/hydrolysis reactions of brain mitochondrial cardiolipins in pathogenesis of traumatic injury. JCI Insight 3:
Kim-Campbell, Nahmah; Gretchen, Catherine; Callaway, Clifton et al. (2017) Cell-Free Plasma Hemoglobin and Male Gender Are Risk Factors for Acute Kidney Injury in Low Risk Children Undergoing Cardiopulmonary Bypass. Crit Care Med 45:e1123-e1130
Li, Lingjue; Poloyac, Samuel M; Watkins, Simon C et al. (2017) Cerebral microcirculatory alterations and the no-reflow phenomenon in vivo after experimental pediatric cardiac arrest. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab :271678X17744717
Kagan, Valerian E; Mao, Gaowei; Qu, Feng et al. (2017) Oxidized arachidonic and adrenic PEs navigate cells to ferroptosis. Nat Chem Biol 13:81-90
Kagan, Valerian E; Bay?r, Hülya; Tyurina, Yulia Y et al. (2017) Elimination of the unnecessary: Intra- and extracellular signaling by anionic phospholipids. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 482:482-490
Anthonymuthu, Tamil S; Kim-Campbell, Nahmah; Bay?r, Hülya (2017) Oxidative lipidomics: applications in critical care. Curr Opin Crit Care 23:251-256
Middleton, Jason W; Simons, Daniel J; Simmons, Jennifer W et al. (2017) Long-Term Deficits in Cortical Circuit Function after Asphyxial Cardiac Arrest and Resuscitation in Developing Rats. eNeuro 4:
Iordanova, Bistra; Li, Lingjue; Clark, Robert S B et al. (2017) Alterations in Cerebral Blood Flow after Resuscitation from Cardiac Arrest. Front Pediatr 5:174
Anthonymuthu, Tamil S; Kenny, Elizabeth M; Amoscato, Andrew A et al. (2017) Global assessment of oxidized free fatty acids in brain reveals an enzymatic predominance to oxidative signaling after trauma. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Basis Dis 1863:2601-2613

Showing the most recent 10 out of 21 publications