Investigating Blood Brain Barrier Permeability in an Experimental Model of Juvenile Stroke Using Advanced MR Imaging
Principal Investigator:
- Trish Domi, University of Toronto
- Hospital for Sick Children
Project Overview
Stroke is one of the leading causes of cerebral palsy in children that carried to term, and 60% have lifelong consequences. Currently, treatment of childhood stroke is limited to prevention of more strokes. Dr. Domi’s research uses specialized imaging techniques to study the role of the blood-brain barrier, a mechanism that can cause further injury to the brain caused by the stroke. Because this cannot yet be studied in children, it was studied in a juvenile rat model of stroke. This research will provide new information about the function of the blood-brain barrier the potential to lead to the testing of treatment options that may be more effective, but cannot be currently used in childhood stroke because the risks are unknown.