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The University of Southampton
Southampton Neuroscience Group

Research project: Acute brain injury

Currently Active: 
Yes

Acute injury to a tissue results in activation of a rapid innate inflammatory response. This response is dominated by local changes in the vasculature, and the recruitment of neutrophils and monocytes from the blood to the site of injury.

We have previously shown that the brain has a remarkable capacity to limit the acute inflammatory response but this may be overridden in severe brain injury such as occurs in stroke, traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury. We are investigating the factors that regulate the inflammatory response. In recent years we have demonstrated a novel and unexplored component of acute brain injury related inflammation. We have shown that following brain inflammation there is an acute phase response in the liver that includes the rapid synthesis of several chemokines. These chemokines released from the liver lead to a profound leucocytosis which contributes to leucocyte recruitment to the brain.

We use immunocytochemistry, ELISAs, real-time RT-RCR, and magnetic resonance imaging to define the role of the acute inflammatory response in lesion outcome.

Related research groups

Biomedical Sciences
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