U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis toured the USF School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences Aug. 20 as part of a visit to learn more about the University of South Florida’s comprehensive research and educational initiatives to benefit veterans and active military.

The Congressman met with physical therapy faculty members engaged in leading-edge Department of Defense-funded studies – including testing advanced prosthetics for military amputees, evaluating an exercise training regimen intended to protect soldiers against low back injury, and recruiting USF student veterans exposed to blasts while in the military but not diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, to determine whether balance, gait and hearing problems may be early signs of TBI.  He was accompanied by Lt. General Martin Steele (USMC retired), executive director of USF Military Partnerships, and William S. Quillen, DPT, associate dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and director of the School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences.

USF’s physical therapy school is home to a Center for Neuromusculoskeletal Research, with research sponsored by the DOD, Federal Emergency Management Agency and corporate partners, as well as support from recurring state funding.

Bilirakis, vice chair of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, also met with USF President Judy Genshaft, Larry Braue, EdD, director of veterans services at USF, and several of the university’s Tillman Military Scholars, including some from the Morsani College of Medicine. USF’s college of medicine has one of the largest concentrations of Tillman scholars of any medical school in the country.

Jason Highsmith, DPT, PhD, assistant professor in the USF School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences, shows Congressman Gus Bilirakis a couple of the multifunctional prosthetic feet his team is evaluating as part of a DOD-funded research project.

John Mayer, DC, PhD, Lincoln College Endowed Chair in Biomechanical and Chiropractic Research, explains the project he leads investigating whether a specific exercise training regimen may protect against low back injury in combat soldiers. They study enrolled healthy medics at Fort Sam Houston, TX.

Jeannie Stephenson (left), PT, MS, instructor, and Dolly Swisher, PT, PhD, professor, demonstrate the neurocom sensory organization test that will be used to help isolate balance difficulties that may be a preclinical indicator of mild traumatic brain injury.

Seok Hun Kim, PhD, PT, assistant professor of physical therapy, is among the USF researchers involved in federally-funded research to benefit soldiers and veterans, with applications for civilian amputees as well.

L to R: Vietnam War veterans Rudy Salas and Jim Daniels, advocates of the advanced prosthetic research conducted at USF, chat with Bilirakis.

 Photos by Amy Blodgett, USF Communications & Marketing

Research with rat models finds chronic inflammation, suppression of cell regeneration, and neuronal cell loss contribute to wide range of motor and cognitive deficits

TAMPA, FL  (Jan. 4, 2013) – Researchers from the University of South Florida and colleagues at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital studying the long-term consequences of traumatic brain injury (TBI) using rat models, have found that, over time, TBI results in progressive brain deterioration characterized by elevated inflammation and suppressed cell regeneration. However, therapeutic intervention, even in the chronic stage of TBI, may still help prevent cell death.

Their study is published online in the current issue of the journal PLOS ONE.

“In the U.S., an estimated 1.7 million people suffer from traumatic brain injury,” said the study’s senior author Cesar V. Borlongan, PhD, professor and vice chair of the Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair at USF.  “In addition, TBI is responsible for 52,000 early deaths, accounts for 30 percent of all injury-related deaths, and costs approximately $52 billion yearly to treat.” 

While TBI is generally considered an acute injury, secondary cell death caused by neuroinflammation and an impaired repair mechanism accompany the injury over time, the authors said. Long-term neurological deficits from TBI related to inflammation may cause more severe secondary injuries and predispose long-term survivors to age-related neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and post-traumatic dementia.

Since the U.S. military has been involved in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the incidence of traumatic brain injury suffered by troops has increased dramatically, primarily from improvised explosive devices (IEDs), according to Martin Steele, Lieutenant General, U.S. Marine Corps (retired), USF associate vice president for veterans research, and executive director of Military Partnerships. In response, the U.S. Veterans Administration has increasingly focused on TBI research and treatment.

Dr. Cesar Borlongan (left), senior author, and Dr. Paul R. Sanberg, co-author

“Progressive injury to hippocampal, cortical and thalamic regions contributes to long-term cognitive damage post-TBI,” said study co-author Paul R. Sanberg,  PhD, DSc, USF senior vice president for research and innovation and executive director of the Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair at USF Health. “Both military and civilian patients have shown functional and cognitive deficits resulting from TBI.”

Because TBI involves both acute and chronic stages, the researchers noted that animal model research on the chronic stages of TBI could provide insight into identifying therapeutic targets for treatment in the post-acute stage.

“Using animal models of TBI, our study investigated the prolonged pathological outcomes of TBI in different parts of the brain, such as the dorsal striatum, thalamus, corpus callosum white matter, hippocampus and cerebral peduncle,” said Dr. Borlongan, principal investigator for the study. “We found that a massive neuroinflammation after TBI causes a second wave of cell death that impairs cell proliferation and impedes the brain’s regenerative capabilities.”

 Upon examining rat brains eight weeks post-trauma, the researchers found “a significant up-regulation of activated microglia cells, not only in the area of direct trauma, but also in adjacent as well as distant areas.”  The location of inflammation correlated with the cell loss and impaired cell proliferation researchers observed.

Microglia cells act as the first and main form of immune defense in the central nervous system and make up 20 percent of the total glial cell population within the brain. They are distributed across large regions throughout the brain and spinal cord.

“Our study found that cell proliferation was significantly affected by a cascade of neuroinflammatory events in chronic TBI and we identified the susceptibility of newly formed cells within neurologic niches and suppression of neurological repair,” wrote the authors.

The researchers concluded that, while the progressive deterioration of the TBI-affected brain over time suppressed efforts of repair, intervention, even in the chronic stage of TBI injury, could help further deterioration.

The study was supported by the U.S. Department of Defense, the USF Signature Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience funds, the USF and Veterans Administration Reintegration Funds, and the USF Neuroscience Collaborative Program.

Citation:  Acosta SA, Tajiri N, Shinozuka K, Ishikawa H, Grimmig B, et al. (2013) Long-Term Upregulation of Inflammation and Suppression of Cell Proliferation in the Brain of Adult Rats Exposed to Traumatic Brain Injury Using the Controlled Cortical Impact Model. PLOS ONE 8(1): e53376. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0053376

– About USF – 

The University of South Florida is a high-impact, global research university dedicated to student success. USF ranks 50th in the nation for federal expenditures in research and total expenditures in research among all U.S. universities, public or private, according to the National Science Foundation. Serving more than 47,000 students, the USF System has an annual budget of $1.5 billion and an annual economic impact of $3.7 billion. USF is a member of the Big East Athletic Conference.

News release by Randy Fillmore, special to USF Research News

Media contact:
Judy Lowry, USF Research & Innovation
813-974-3181, or jhlowry@usf.edu