Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Western Ontario, 1995. Includes bibliographical references.

We have developed a novel rodent animal model of reperfusion injury following stroke. In this model, blood flow through the middle cerebral artery (MCA) is temporarily occluded by placing gentle pressure on sutures behind the artery along three separate branches. The sutures remain in place for a pe...

Recent investigations have provided evidence to suggest exogenous estrogen administration into autonomic nuclei prevents or reverses the autonomic dysfunction observed after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in male rats. Because estrogen seems to be a potent neuroprotectant against autonomic ...

Current in vitro models of stroke involve applying oxygen-glucose deprived (OGD) media over an entire brain slice or plate of cultured neurons. Thus, these models fail to mimic the focal nature of stroke as observed clinically and with in vivo rodent models of stroke. Our aim was to develop a novel ...

Microstimulation of the rat posterior insular cortex in phase with the ECG R wave elicits pure cardiac effects unaccompanied by changes in blood pressure or respiration. This technique has successfully demonstrated cardiac chronotropic organisation and arrhythmogenesis within the insula. Pathways ex...

The present study was aimed at investigating the efficacy and mechanism(s) of action of a Chinese herbal formulation, Liuwei Dihuang (LWDH), as a prospective natural weight-lowering product. Following a 2-week acclimation period, 48 obesity-prone (OP-CD) rats were divided into 4 groups (n=12 each). ...

Abstract:  Genetic polymorphisms in enzymes controlling the formation and disposition of estrogens and their metabolites have been shown to influence breast cancer risk. Environmental and lifestyle factors may interact with estrogen metabolism polymorphisms to influence breast cancer risk. We...

Lipoic acid (LA) is a naturally occurring compound and dietary supplement with powerful antioxidant properties. Although LA is neuroprotective in models of stroke, little is known about the cellular mechanisms by which it confers protection during the early stages of ischemia. Here, using a rat mode...

Ischemic tolerance describes a phenomenon whereby subcritical stimuli evoke cellular protective mechanisms resulting in increased tolerance to subsequent ischemia. In the present study we propose that the cytoprotective effects attributed to 17β-estradiol and tunicamycin in an in vivo rodent model ...

Evidence is increasingly accumulating in support of a role for the steroid hormone 17 beta-estradiol to modify neuronal functions in the mammalian CNS, especially in autonomic centers. In addition to its well known slowly developing and long lasting actions (genomic), estrogen can also rapidly modul...

The steroid hormone 17 beta-estradiol and its respective receptors have been found in several cardiovascular nuclei in the central nervous system including the parabrachial nucleus. In a previous study, we provided evidence that 17 beta-estradiol attenuated an outward potassium conductance in parabr...

The present study was designed to determine a dose-response relationship between apocynin and infarct volume as well as to provide a possible molecular mechanism mediating this effect. We tested the hypothesis that apocynin protects against cell death following stroke and reperfusion injury. Apocyni...

In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that selective activation of estrogen receptor subtypes (ERalpha and ERbeta) would be neuroprotective following ischemia and/or ischemia-reperfusion, as well as prevent the associated autonomic dysfunction. The selective ERalpha agonist, PPT, when admin...

Previously we have found that extracellular guanosine (Guo) has neuroprotective properties in in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, extracellular Guo significantly increased in the ipsilateral hemisphere within 2 h following focal stroke in rats, and remained elevated for one week. Therefore, we hypothes...

Ibogaine is a natural alkaloid of Voacanga africana that is effective in the treatment of withdrawal symptoms and craving in drug addicts. As the synaptic and cellular basis of ibogaine's actions are not well understood, this study tested the hypothesis that ibogaine and Voacanga africana extract mo...

The steroid hormone 17beta-estradiol and its respective receptors have been found in several cardiovascular nuclei in the central nervous system including the parabrachial nucleus. In a previous study, we provided evidence that 17beta-estradiol attenuated an outward potassium conductance in parabrac...

OBJECTIVE: The primary objectives were to evaluate the current usage of anti-microbial agents in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) in Doha, State of Qatar and to correlate this with: a) the infectious disease pattern, b) the isolated microorganisms and their s...

Relaxins are members of the insulin peptide superfamily. Previous evidence has shown that relaxin pretreatment reduces cortical infarct size in anesthetized, male rats receiving permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Therefore, the current study was designed to determine if estrogenic me...

Previous work in our laboratory has provided evidence that preadministration of apocynin and lipoic acid at subthreshold levels for neuroprotection enhanced the neuroprotective capacity when injected in combination. Therefore, the present investigation wa...

After ischemic stroke, early thrombolytic therapy to reestablish tissue perfusion improves outcome but triggers a cascade of deleterious cellular and molecular events. Using a collaborative approach, our groups examined the effects of guanosine (Guo) in response to ischemic reperfusion injury in vit...