Endogenous mechanisms of vascular and parenchymal protection in CNS ischemia.

Research in our laboratory is aimed at elucidating the mechanisms of vascular and neuronal protection against CNS ischemic injury by a process called hypoxic preconditioning, wherein exposure to sublethal hypoxia promotes the activation of an endogenous protective phenotype in these cells. We also study inflammatory and oxidative mechanisms of vascular and neuronal injury in brain and retina of genetically engineered mice using videomicroscopic and other methods to directly visualize these injury processes. Cerebral and retinal endothelial cell cultures are also used as concomitant in vitro models of ischemic injury and preconditioning-induced protection.