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Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on January 4, 2008) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on February 26, 2008) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of South Florida, 2005. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-144). Also available online.

Stroke is cerebrovascular injury that has been reported to be the third leading cause of death and the first leading cause of disability in the world (W. H.O. 2007). Currently, there is only one FDA approved treatment for stroke which is recombinant tissue plasminogen activator. This treatment has a narrow therapeutic window of three hours after ischemic stroke and can adversely cause the production of oxygen free radicals and intracranial hemorrhage. These limitations result in only 2-3% of all stroke victims as being candidates for this therapy as many patients do not arrive at the hospital in time to receive treatment, are not properly diagnosed, or do not know that they have had a stroke within this three hour time period. The purpose of these experiments was to elucidate alternative targets of stroke for the benefit of developing new treatments that stimulate neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects at the site of injury. It has been shown that transfusion of human umbilical cord blood cells up to 48 hours after stroke significantly reduces infarction and we have examined other targets that mimic these effects. We have shown that sigma receptor activation by DTG, a high affinity universal sigma agonist, reduces infarct volume when administered 24 hours after stroke. This suggests that modulation of neurodegenerative and inflammatory responses can extend the therapeutic window of treatment. For the first time, evidence is provided that shows that the spleen enhances the neurodegeneration caused by stroke as splenectomy prior to stroke profoundly decreased infarction volume. Finally, we studied signaling mechanisms of the splenic reaction to stroke and determined that this response is not directly dependent on neurotransmission via the splenic nerve. Denervation of the spleen prior to stroke showed no changes in neurodegenerative load at the site of injury in rat brains when compared to those subjected to stroke only. Overall, these experiments provide evidence showing that targets mediating neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects can lead to novel therapeutic interventions of stroke.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on December 18, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Each year, approximately 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke. About 610,000 of these are first attacks, and 185,000 are recurrent attacks (Carandang et al. 2006). Currently the only FDA approved treatment for ischemic stroke is recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (Alteplase) (Marler and Goldstein 2003). Unfortunately its use is restricted to a short, 4.5 hour, time window. Two promising therapies in the treatment of stroke at delayed timepoints are human umbilical cord blood cells (HUCBC) and the sigma receptor agonist DTG The first series of experiments were conducted to characterize the effects of sigma receptors on various aspects of microglial activation. Sigma receptor activation suppresses the ability of microglia to rearrange their actin cytoskeleton, migrate, and release cytokines. Stimulation of sigma receptors suppressed both transient and sustained intracellular calcium elevations associated with microglial activation. Further experiments showed that sigma receptors suppress microglial activation by interfering with increases in intracellular calcium. An ex vivo organotypic slice culture (OTC) model to was utilized to characterize the efficacy of sigma receptor activation and HUCBC therapy in mitigating neurodegeneration in ischemic brain tissue in the absence of the peripheral immune system. HUCBC but not DTG treatment reduced the number of degenerating neurons and the production of microglia derived nitric oxide in slice cultures subjected to oxygen glucose deprivation (OGD) back to levels seen in the normoxia controls. The final experiments were performed to characterize the effects of the peripheral immune system on the brain over time and identify changes mediated by HUCBC and DTG. Labeled splenocytes were found in spleen, blood, and thymus, but not in the brain in appreciable numbers at any timepoint. IL10 and IFN?; levels were found to significantly increase by 96hours post MCAO. This increase in IL10 and IFNγ expression was blocked HUCBC or DTG. The experiments described here have shed light on the molecular mechanisms of stroke injury and the relative targets that DTG and HUCBC therapies exploit. These data suggest that the neuroprotection achieved by DTG or HUCBC is mediated by the ability of these treatments to modulate the peripheral immune systems response to injury.