Funding outcome

Infants are vulnerable to multiple forms of brain injury and often suffer long term consequences from these injuries. Compared to older ages groups, their brains respond uniquely to brain damage down to the cellular level. To improve outcomes for young children, we first need to understand the cellular mechanisms specific to brain injury when it occurs in early life. Lipid droplets are sub-compartments within cells that form in response to cellular stress. They play an important role in protecting cells from stress. Using an isolated region of the rat brain, the hippocampus, we are able to study the cellular mechanisms of injury at different ages. Using this model system of brain injury, we discovered that lipid droplets form at much higher levels in newborn animals. A major source of cellular stress that occurs during brain injury is caused by neurons that become hyperactive. Newborn brains are especially vulnerable to neuron hyperactivity. We previously discovered that neuron hyperactivity causes lipid droplet formation. We believe that lipid droplets form in the newborn brain following injury because of increased neuronal activity and that these lipid droplets help to limit cellular damage. We will investigate if neuron hyperactivity causes lipid droplet formation following brain injury in newborns. We will also determine whether lipid droplets protect neurons from cell death. Ultimately, this study will help us understand how the newborn brain uniquely responds to injury and may reveal pathways that could be targeted to improve outcomes following brain injury when it occurs in early life.