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1095 NW 14th Terrace
Lois Pope LIFE Center
Miami, Florida 33136
Toll Free 800-996-3783
Tel: 305-243-6946
Fax: 305-243-3337
Lois Pope LIFE Center
Miami, Florida 33136
Toll Free 800-996-3783
Tel: 305-243-6946
Fax: 305-243-3337
Helen M. Bramlett
Research Assistant Professor
Research Interests
My research interest is understanding the pathophysiology of traumatic injury leading to the use of therapeutic strategies targeting specific mechanisms of damage. My laboratory focuses on three areas of traumatic research. Hormonal influences on traumatic brain and spinal cord injury, progressive tissue damage after traumatic injury and mechanisms involved in the exacerbation of tissue damage following trauma and secondary hypoxia.Several recent studies have reported on the efficacy of hormones in treating stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI). The mechanisms of action that hormones are working through are now being elucidated. We have recently demonstrated endogenous neuroprotection from hormones in intact females compared to males and ovariectomized animals on histopathological outcome measures. We are now focusing on the influence of the inflammatory response on outcome following TBI and the effect that hormones play in this response. In addition to studies in TBI, we are also studying the effects of hormones in attenuating damage and improving behavioral outcome after spinal cord injury (SCI). Based on the findings from these studies, it may be advantageous to use estrogen in combination with other growth factors to facilitate regeneration after SCI. Estrogen has been shown to produce proliferation of Schwann cells as well as neurite growth.
Our laboratory and others have recently demonstrated chronic atrophy at one year following TBI. However, it is unknown what is causing this continued gray and white matter tissue loss. Is it due to the initial injury or are there active processes ongoing that continue to degrade the tissue? Current studies in the laboratory are designed to determine what mechanisms may be contributing to this progressive damage in order to design appropriate treatment strategies to halt this loss.
One problem that arises in studying TBI is using a model that is clinically relevant. There is an ongoing debate on whether simple models or complicated models of TBI should be utilized in the laboratory. Secondary hypoxia and hypotension frequently occur clinically after TBI. Several laboratories are employing this paradigm to study the pathophysiology of this complicated model. We have recently documented an exacerbation of histopathological damage as well as behavioral deficits following TBI and secondary hypoxia. However, specific mechanisms that may be contributing to this injury pattern have not been studied in depth. We are currently concentrating on obtaining evidence for aggravated vascular dysfunction leading to an enhanced inflammatory response following TBI and secondary hypoxia.
Publications
1: Bramlett HM. Related Articles, Links
Abstract Sex differences and the effect of hormonal therapy on ischemic brain injury.
Pathophysiology. 2005 Jul;12(1):17-27.
PMID: 15927821 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
2: Rodriguez-Paez AC, Brunschwig JP, Bramlett HM. Related Articles, Links
Abstract Light and electron microscopic assessment of progressive atrophy following moderate traumatic brain injury in the rat.
Acta Neuropathol (Berl). 2005 Jun;109(6):603-16. Epub 2005 May 5.
PMID: 15877231 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
3: Suzuki T, Bramlett HM, Ruenes G, Dietrich WD. Related Articles, Links
Abstract The effects of early post-traumatic hyperthermia in female and ovariectomized rats.
J Neurotrauma. 2004 Jul;21(7):842-53.
PMID: 15307897 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
4: Urrea C, Danton GH, Bramlett HM, Dietrich WD. Related Articles, Links
Abstract The beneficial effect of mild hypothermia in a rat model of repeated thromboembolic insults.
Acta Neuropathol (Berl). 2004 May;107(5):413-20. Epub 2004 Feb 13.
PMID: 14963724 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
5: Suzuki T, Bramlett HM, Dietrich WD. Related Articles, Links
Abstract The importance of gender on the beneficial effects of posttraumatic hypothermia.
Exp Neurol. 2003 Dec;184(2):1017-26.
PMID: 14769396 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
6: Bramlett HM, Dietrich WD. Related Articles, Links
Abstract Pathophysiology of cerebral ischemia and brain trauma: similarities and differences.
J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2004 Feb;24(2):133-50. Review.
PMID: 14747740 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
7: Bramlett HM, Dietrich WD. Related Articles, Links
No abstract Synuclein aggregation: possible role in traumatic brain injury.
Exp Neurol. 2003 Nov;184(1):27-30. No abstract available.
PMID: 14637075 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
8: Bramlett HM, Dietrich WD. Related Articles, Links
Abstract Quantitative structural changes in white and gray matter 1 year following traumatic brain injury in rats.
Acta Neuropathol (Berl). 2002 Jun;103(6):607-14. Epub 2002 Mar 20.
PMID: 12012093 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
9: Matsushita Y, Bramlett HM, Alonso O, Dietrich WD. Related Articles, Links
Abstract Posttraumatic hypothermia is neuroprotective in a model of traumatic brain injury complicated by a secondary hypoxic insult.
Crit Care Med. 2001 Nov;29(11):2060-6.
PMID: 11700395 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
10: Bramlett HM, Dietrich WD. Related Articles, Links
Abstract Neuropathological protection after traumatic brain injury in intact female rats versus males or ovariectomized females.
J Neurotrauma. 2001 Sep;18(9):891-900.
PMID: 11565601 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
11: Matsushita Y, Bramlett HM, Kuluz JW, Alonso O, Dietrich WD. Related Articles, Links
Abstract Delayed hemorrhagic hypotension exacerbates the hemodynamic and histopathologic consequences of traumatic brain injury in rats.
J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2001 Jul;21(7):847-56.
PMID: 11435797 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
12: Passineau MJ, Zhao W, Busto R, Dietrich WD, Alonso O, Loor JY, Bramlett HM, Ginsberg MD. Related Articles, Links
Free Full Text Chronic metabolic sequelae of traumatic brain injury: prolonged suppression of somatosensory activation.
Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2000 Sep;279(3):H924-31.
PMID: 10993751 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
13: Bramlett HM, Dietrich WD, Green EJ. Related Articles, Links
Abstract Secondary hypoxia following moderate fluid percussion brain injury in rats exacerbates sensorimotor and cognitive deficits.
J Neurotrauma. 1999 Nov;16(11):1035-47.
PMID: 10595820 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
14: Bramlett HM, Green EJ, Dietrich WD. Related Articles, Links
Abstract Exacerbation of cortical and hippocampal CA1 damage due to posttraumatic hypoxia following moderate fluid-percussion brain injury in rats.
J Neurosurg. 1999 Oct;91(4):653-9.
PMID: 10507388 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
15: Bramlett HM, Kraydieh S, Green EJ, Dietrich WD. Related Articles, Links
Abstract Temporal and regional patterns of axonal damage following traumatic brain injury: a beta-amyloid precursor protein immunocytochemical study in rats.
J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 1997 Oct;56(10):1132-41.
PMID: 9329457 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
16: Bramlett HM, Green EJ, Dietrich WD. Related Articles, Links
Abstract Hippocampally dependent and independent chronic spatial navigational deficits following parasagittal fluid percussion brain injury in the rat.
Brain Res. 1997 Jul 11;762(1-2):195-202.
PMID: 9262173 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
17: Bramlett HM, Dietrich WD, Green EJ, Busto R. Related Articles, Links
Abstract Chronic histopathological consequences of fluid-percussion brain injury in rats: effects of post-traumatic hypothermia.
Acta Neuropathol (Berl). 1997 Feb;93(2):190-9.
PMID: 9039468 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
18: Bramlett HM, Green EJ, Dietrich WD, Busto R, Globus MY, Ginsberg MD. Related Articles, Links
Abstract Posttraumatic brain hypothermia provides protection from sensorimotor and cognitive behavioral deficits.
J Neurotrauma. 1995 Jun;12(3):289-98.
PMID: 7473803 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
