Researchers to attend upcoming conferences
By Julius Calasicas
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is sustained by about 1.4 million people a year, according to the Center for Disease Control and Protection's Web site. Of those people, 50,000 die and 235,000 are hospitalized. But UP students and staff hope to contribute to the growing research surrounding TBI and possibly save lives.
Students studying psychology and biology at UP are preparing for two presentations about brain injury; one group will be going to San Diego for the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting, while another will be attending the Murdock Research Conference in Oregon. Both events will be held Nov. 2 to 7.
The researchers were granted about $150,000 by the National Science Foundation this year. UP started a lab in the summer of 2006 with funding from the Murdock Foundation and the Butine Fund, according to Jeffrey Smith, a biology and psychology professor.
Smith's lab examines how smaller serial brain lesions in rats, as opposed to one large contusion, affect behavior and recovery. The grant also allowed for outreach programs to extend the sciences to middle school students.
The scientific communities of various institutions such as the Oregon Health & Science University and UCLA have been targeted by radical animal rights activists. According to Smith, UP received a mysterious call this summer inquiring about animal research on campus.
The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) has taken responsibility for the vandalism of Eliot Spindel's property in Lake Oswego. Spindel is a researcher at the OHSU, and has drawn heat for supposedly addicting pregnant apes with nicotine to study how vitamin C blocks mechanisms that harm fetal development.
When asked about the phone call, Dr. Jerry Vlasak, from the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, did not recall any contact made with UP. Dr. Vlasak is a board certified surgeon in Los Angeles who argues against the scientific invalidity of animal experimentation.
"It's easy to gather data, look good and waste a lot of time and money to get grant money," Vlasak said. "There are better ways to conduct research. Eighty-five percent of data gathered (in animal research) is thrown away when it's not published.
If it is published, the findings don't help human patients. Animals feel pain, and these rats are kept in cages and killed when done."
When asked about Vlasak's comments, Smith questioned the statistics and made a distinction between animal rights and animal welfare. Smith was a member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in high school.
"If data is thrown away, where did these numbers come from?" Smith asked. "Any scientist today will say they don't enjoy the killing of animals. If I had to make a choice of killing hundreds of rats versus coming up with a treatment to care for thousands of people, I think anybody would choose the treatment for people."
The use of any animal research at UP must be allowed by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, consisting of Smith, Jacquie Van Hoomissen, Katie O'Reilly, chair of the Biology Department, and a local veterinarian.
"We do this for a reason," Smith said. "There is oversight from an outside group and we minimize the use of animals necessary in our study."
Cole Vonder Haar, a senior psychology major, is writing his thesis on the research and has been conducting the experiments with Smith. He will be presenting in San Diego next month for the Society for Neuroscience.
"We hope to improve treatments for people with brain injury," Vonder Haar said. About 1.4 million people sustain TBI a year, according to the Center for Disease Control and Protection's Web site. Of those people, 50,000 die and 235,000 are hospitalized.
Danielle Friend, another senior psychology major, is also working with Vonder Haar and Smith.
"I hope this will lead to more research within the area," Friend said. "I had an uncle and aunt die from TBI before I was born."
The research introduces brain lesions to rats with a cortical contusion device. Rats are fully anesthetized with their heads held in place, while a piston accurately strikes the exposed brain with precision in the force applied.
Rats given two half-sized lesions spaced apart do not experience significant behavioral changes as a rat with a one large lesion of equal size. The examination between brain injuries will hopefully reveal what is protecting the rat's brain from overall behavioral problems and ultimately aid in the treatment of human TBI.
When humans undergo brain surgery, only a local anesthetic is given because the human brain does not have pain receptors. This allows patients to be conscious during brain surgery and converse with the surgeon while the procedure is taking place, according to Smith.
If the surgeon hits the wrong place, the patient will react. The rats, on the other hand, are fully unconscious during the cortical contusion procedure.
"The goal is to identify the mechanics at play with TBI," Smith said. "After we euthanize the animals, we remove the brain and look at the changes in neurons and glial cells to see if it is relatable in cellular change and change in cell population."
The sliced brains are observed under a microscope, where a close examination of the cells is made. Glial cells outnumber neurons by about 10 to one, though they do not contain nerve impulses (action potentials) that neurons do.
Until recently, glial cells received little attention compared to neurons because scientists considered glial cells as only the glue that holds our neurons together.
The growing interest and study in glial cells will hopefully lead to a better understanding of the various parts of the brain and develop ideas on how to treat brain ailments, according to the Society for Neuroscience's Web site.
Specifically, astrocytes are star-shaped glial cells found in the central nervous system. The role astrocytes play in neuroregeneration is not yet completely understood, but studies have shown that astrocytes do indeed influence the activity of neurons.
Smith's research is an ongoing study.
"I'll be continuing my research until I'm pushing up daisies," Smith said.
