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Internship for EUGLOH program

Title: Pathophysiological mechanisms and pharmacological treatment targets in experimental ischemic stroke

Keywords: ischemic stroke, brain injury, brain edema

Internship Duration: 01/01/22 - 30/06/22


Head of the hosting team: Eszter Farkas

Website: Click here

Address of the host laboratory:
Group of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism
Team Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine
Somogyi Béla u. 4
6720 Szeged Hungary

Supervisor 1: Akos Menyhart
E-mail: menyhartakos89@gmail.com
Phone: +3662545364

Supervisor 2: Rita Frank
E-mail: ritafrank993@gmail.com
Phone: +3662545364


Internship description:

Acute ischemic brain injury gives rise to the spontaneous occurrence of spreading depolarization events and brain edema, which contribute to the expansion of the lesion, and worsen injury outcome. The effective treatment of cerebral ischemia remains a considerable challenge, and the discovery of potential targets for novel treatment strategies is essential. The research evaluates the efficacy of novel pharmacological approaches to alleviate cytotoxic edema and neurodegeneration linked to spreading depolarization, with particular focus on the integrity of the cerebral blood flow responses to neuronal activation. Anoxic depolarization is a fundamental mechanisms of acute brain injury, yet the ion channels and signaling pathways contributing to the phenomenon have not been disclosed. The research sets out to identify the routes of ion translocations implicated in anoxic depolarization with the aid of electrophysiology and pharmacological means in a live brain slice model system.

Techniques used during the internship:

Application of the Biopac© system for data acquisition and analysis, basic experimental surgical techniques, electrophysiology (DC potential and EEG recording, measurement of pH and extracellular potassium concentration in the nervous tissue), experimental microsurgery, image analysis, in vitro brain slice preparation, intrinsic optical signal analysis, laser Doppler flowmetry, laser-speckle contrast imaging of local cerebral blood flow, pharmacology, statistical methods, voltage-sensitive and pH-sensitive dye imaging of cellular trans-membrane potential.

Bibliography:

Varga, D.P., Szabó, Í., Varga, V.É., Menhyárt, Á., M. Tóth, O., Kozma, M., Bálint, A.R., Krizbai, I.A., Bari, F., Farkas, E. (2020) The antagonism of prostaglandin FP receptors inhibits the evolution of spreading depolarization in an experimental model of global forebrain ischemia. Neurobiol. Dis. 137, 104780; M. Tóth, O., Menyhárt, Á., Varga, V.É., Hantosi, D., Ivánkovits-Kiss, O., Varga, D.P., Szabó, Í., Janovák, L., Dékány, I., Farkas, E., Bari, F. (2020) Chitosan nanoparticles release nimodipine in response to tissue acidosis to attenuate spreading depolarization evoked during forebrain ischemia. Neuropharmacology. 162, 107850.; Menyhárt, Á., Farkas, A.E., Varga, D.P., Frank, R., Tóth,


Possibility of PhD : Yes

Research field(s) of interest to the hosting team:
Language(s) spoken in the host laboratory: English, Hungarian, Serbian