- Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Center and Department of Neurosurgery, Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Correspondence Address:
Jason S. Hauptman
Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Center and Department of Neurosurgery, Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
DOI:10.4103/2152-7806.71985
© 2010 Hauptman JS This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.How to cite this article: Hauptman JS, Safaee M. From the bench to the bedside: Spinal cord regeneration, niacin for stroke, magnetic nanoparticles, stimulation for epilepsy, role of galanins in epilepsy, functions of the supramarginal gyri, and the role of inflammation in postoperative cognitive disturbances. Surg Neurol Int 20-Oct-2010;1:66
How to cite this URL: Hauptman JS, Safaee M. From the bench to the bedside: Spinal cord regeneration, niacin for stroke, magnetic nanoparticles, stimulation for epilepsy, role of galanins in epilepsy, functions of the supramarginal gyri, and the role of inflammation in postoperative cognitive disturbances. Surg Neurol Int 20-Oct-2010;1:66. Available from: http://sni.wpengine.com/surgicalint_articles/bench-bedside-spinal-cord-regeneration-niacin-stroke-magnetic-nanoparticles-stimulation-epilepsy-role-galanins-epilepsy-functions-supramarginal-gyri/
UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL FOR CORTICOSPINAL NEURONS TO REGENERATE FOLLOWING INJURY
Regeneration of the corticospinal tract following spinal cord injury[
NIACIN THERAPY MAY ENHANCE NEUROLOGICAL RECOVERY FOLLOWING STROKE
Niacin, a medication commonly used clinically to increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), may also have a role in improving functional outcome following stroke.[
USING MAGNETIC NANOPARTICLES TO TREAT BRAIN TUMORS
The advent of nanoparticles carrying pharmacological therapeutics has been an exciting development in contemporary neuroscience. Getting these nanoparticles across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) has been challenging, though recently focused ultrasound (FUS) has been found to be able to locally disrupt the BBB to allow different agents through. Another challenge has been how to evaluate how much agent enters the central nervous system (CNS), a problem that has been addressed using magnetic nanoparticles that can be visualized using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Another advantage of these magnetic nanoparticles is the ability to perform magnetic targeting (MT), whereby magnet application can guide the nanoparticles to particular regions. In this study, the authors used focused ultrasound to deliver magnetic nanoparticles to the CNS while monitoring their delivery with MRI. First, they characterized these magnetic nanoparticles and conjugated them to epirubicin, a cytotoxic drug used to treat cancer. When these nanoparticles were added to cell cultures, the cells took up the nanoparticles via endocytosis and underwent apoptosis. Furthermore, using MT, cell death was concentrated at areas nearest to the magnet. In in vivo rat studies, the authors demonstrated that FUS and MT resulted in magnetic nanoparticle deposition in brain regions nearest to the magnet, as demonstrated by MRI. Finally, the authors created animals bearing brain tumors[
SUPPRESSING SEIZURE ACTIVITY WITH IN VIVO LOW FREQUENCY ELECTRICAL STIMULATION
Deep brain stimulation has come into focus as a potential therapeutic modality in patients with intractable epilepsy. For instance, in March 2010, a large clinical study examining the efficacy of anterior thalamic nucleus high frequency stimulation in the treatment of refractory epilepsy was published.[
GALANIN RECEPTORS: A NOVEL TARGET FOR ANTIEPILEPTIC DRUGS
Galanin, a neuropeptide found to be involved in multiple physiological processes including hippocampal epilepsy, has been proposed as a novel target for anticonvulsant therapy.[
DAMAGE TO THE LEFT INFERIOR PARIETAL LOBE ASSOCIATED WITH CONDUCTION APHASIA
Conduction aphasia, defined as the inability to repeat speech, is common in patients with left hemisphere stroke and resultant aphasia. While this deficit is classically characterized by injury to the left arcuate fasciculus, recent evidence has suggested that it may actually be caused solely by injury to the left inferior parietal cortex.[
BILATERAL SUPRAMARGINAL GYRI FOUND TO BE CRUCIAL FOR PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES
In addition to the lesion-behavior mapping study (see above) pinpointing conduction aphasia to the inferior portion of the left supramarginal gyrus, work has also suggested that the supramarginal gyri (SMG) are critical for processing the phonology (sounds) of words (as opposed to their semantics, or meaning).[
INFLAMMATION FOLLOWING SURGERY MAY LEAD TO POSTOPERATIVE COGNITIVE DISTURBANCES
Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD), characterized by impairments in memory, attention, consciousness, and sleep cycle, is most common in elderly patients after surgery involving either regional or general anesthesia.[
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