The relationship between neuronal activity and stroke

在美国，中风是导致死亡的主要原因之一，也是导致长期残疾的主要原因， 而且大多数中风都源于血液流动障碍，即所谓的缺血性中风。因为大多数大脑皮层 缺血性卒中起源于大脑中动脉(MCA)的阻塞，我们的实验室已经研究了卒中 对永久性大脑中动脉闭塞(PMCAo)大鼠的保护作用。我们的发现是 证明感觉刺激在pMCAo后的早期2小时是保护性的，但在之后(3-4小时) 同样的刺激会造成损害(称为梗塞)。假设其中一个的位置和体积 受损或受保护的领土取决于闭塞动脉的空间结构(例如，大脑中动脉)，但 我们实验室的研究结果指出了另一种假设，即脑梗塞或脑梗塞的位置和体积 受保护的区域取决于皮层中诱发的神经元活动的传播。 为了解决我们的假设，我们计划应用最先进的体内广域成像的多模式电池 技术包括血流成像和皮质活动的功能成像。这些成像技术 由光刺激、使用微电极阵列的电生理记录、 组织学、药理学治疗研究，以及机器学习算法的发展。 这些技术将被用来提供前所未有的时空、定量的理解 关于诱发活动的传播如何对预测脑梗塞的位置和体积是至关重要的 受保护的大脑皮层领土。最后，为了增加这些研究的翻译潜力，这些技术 将应用于老年大鼠，代表最容易中风的种群，并在清醒时，头部固定 增加我们研究的翻译潜力。

Stroke is the one of the leading causes for death and the leading cause of long-term disability in the USA, and most strokes originate from blood flow blockage known as ischemic stroke. Since the majority of cortical ischemic strokes originate from blockage in the middle cerebral artery (MCA), our lab has studied stroke protection in a rat model of permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (pMCAo). Our findings have demonstrated that sensory stimulation in the early 2 hours following pMCAo is protective but later (3-4 hours) the same stimulation becomes damaging (known as infarct). It is assumed that the location and volume of either the damaged or protected territory depends on the spatial structure of the occluded artery (e.g., MCA), but research results in our lab point to an alternative hypothesis that the location and volume of an infarcted or protected territory depends on the spread of evoked neuronal activity in cortex. To address our hypothesis, we plan to apply state-of-the-art multi-modal battery of in vivo wide-field imaging techniques including blood flow imaging and functional imaging of cortical activity. These imaging techniques are complemented by optogentic stimulation, electrophysiological recordings using microelectrode arrays, histological, pharmacological treatment studies, and by the development of machine learning algorithms. These techniques will be employed to provide an unprecedented spatiotemporal, quantitative understanding on how the spread of evoked activity is pivotal for predicating the location and volume of the infarcted or protected cortical territory. Finally, to increase the translational potential of these studies, these techniques will be applied in old rats that represent the population most vulnerable to stroke, and in awake, head-fixed young and old rats to increase the translational potential of our research.