Funding outcome

Brain damage can arise from complications during pregnancy and birth, from a lack of oxygen and glucose supply due to obstructed blood flow to the brain. In developed countries, the disorder occurs in 2.0-3.0 per 1000 live term births. By 2 years of age, 40-60% of affected infants will die or suffer lifelong disabilities. External cooling of the newborn's head to limit the extent of the brain damage is the only clinically approved treatment, but success is very limited. Therefore, there is a need to develop additional innovative therapies that can rescue brain cells at risk of dying and supplement the effects of hypothermia. This may be achieved by specifically targeting the site of injury using novel therapeutic agents and methods of delivery. Our goal is to develop nanoparticles that can release drugs directly at the site of injury, in a safe manner, by responding to signals sent by the brain when it is in distress. This will reduce the harmful side effects of the drug when it is administered systemically. Our study will test the effectiveness of this treatment in complementing hypothermic neuroprotection in a newborn rat model of brain injury. We will provide the drug-containing nanoparticles, during recovery for 5 days. We believe that the nanoparticle-based drug treatment, in combination with external head cooling, can significantly improve the outcomes of brain damage in newborn babies and has the potential to enhance their overall quality of life.