UC Scientists study new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of traumatic brain injury
In Europe, there are 2.5 million new cases of traumatic brain injury every year, resulting in approximately 100,000 deaths .
English version: Diana Taborda
A research team from the University of Coimbra (UC) is conducting research to test and find new targets and therapeutic approaches for traumatic brain injury, an injury to brain tissue that disables brain function, either temporarily or permanently, and that can have behavioural and/or brain consequences.
The research aims to find new answers to combat the side effects of this trauma, as well as to prevent the damage caused by a trauma, such as behavioural changes (memory loss, mood swings, learning and concentration deficits) and brain changes (namely, loss of white matter and decrease in volume).
The study aims to identify more effective therapies, since "one of the major problems of traumatic brain injury is the lack of an effective and targeted therapy against its negative effects," explains Ricardo Leitão, researcher at the Centre for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology (CIBB) of the University of Coimbra and Principal investigator (PI) of the project "Neutrophils infiltration through blood-brain barrier in traumatic brain injury: Role of CXCL8".
The UC researcher adds that "the therapies currently used focus on treating the side effects of trauma (such as oedema, inflammation, seizures and increased intracranial pressure), but although these therapies reduce the post-trauma effects, and hence improve the lives of patients after leaving hospital, some patients develop significant behavioural consequences and brain changes, months or years after the traumatic event".
In order to find new therapies, the research team will use cell culture models to test and evaluate the way and mechanisms used by neutrophils (cells that are part of the immune system, which play a decisive role in the body's defence against inflammatory and infectious foci) to migrate from the bloodstream to the brain. The team will study the role of a protein that is involved in this process of neutrophil invasion as well, since it has been associated with a worse prognosis and/or higher probability of death after a traumatic brain injury.
The research is funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and is being conducted by the following team: Ana Paula Silva, Ana Raquel Santiago and Inês Baldeiras, researchers and professors at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra (FMUC); Mónica Zuzarte, researcher at the Centre for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology of the University of Coimbra and at the Coimbra Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research (iCBR) and by Maria João Leitão, FMUC doctoral student. It also has the collaboration of two neurosurgeons from the Coimbra Hospital and University Centre (CHUC), José Luís Alves (co-Principal Investigator of the project) and Marcos Barbosa, both professors at the Faculty of Medicine of the UC.