My studies have been focused on the mechanisms of brain injury caused by strokes. Stroke is the third-leading cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. Ischemic stroke occurs when blood clots or other particles block arteries to the brain and cause severely reduced blood flow (ischemia). Hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain leaks or ruptures (bleeding in the brain), causing cell damage and brain edema. To investigate the mechanisms of stroke-induced brain injury, animal models of hemorrhagic or ischemic stroke are employed in our studies including brain edema, the changes in blood-brain barrier, cerebral blood flow and intracranial pressure, and cerebral biochemical and morphological changes. Our goal is to explore the possibility of appropriately targeted therapeutic strategy to reduce brain injury in stroke patients.
My research interests also include the studies of brain injuries in neonates. Neonatal hypoxia ischemia brain injury leads to neurodevelopmental sequelae in affected infants. It affects not only the infants who experience the injury, but also their families. The care of affected children is dispersed over several medical specialties including pediatricians, child neurologists, physio-, speech-, and psycho-therapists; hence, the costs to society for treatment and care of such cases are extremely high. We are currently investigating the neuroprotective effects and mechanisms of various treatments in neonatal hypoxia rat model in hope to provide information to new clinical strategies for the prevention and treatment of hypoxia ischemia brain damage in human babies.
1. Charles MS, Ostrowski RP, Manaenko A, Duris K, Zhang JH, Tang J. Role of the pituitary-adrenal axis in granulocyte-colony stimulating factor-induced neuroprotection against hypoxia-ischemia in neonatal rats. Neurobiology of Disease, 47:29-37, 2012
2. Ma Q, Huang B, Khatibi N, Rolland W, Suzuki H, Zhang JH and Tang J. PDGFR-α Inhibition Preserves Blood-Brain Barrier after Intracerebral Hemorrhage. Annals of Neurology. 70:920-31, 2011
3. Souvenir R, Fathali N, Ostrowski R, Lekic T, Zhang JH, Tang J. Tissue Inhibitor of Matrix Metalloproteinase Mediates Erythropoietin-induced Neuroprotection in Hypoxia Ischemia. Neurobiology of Disease. 44:28-37, 2011
4. Manaenko A, Chen H, Kammer J, Zhang JH, Tang J. Comparison Evans Blue Injection Routes: Intravenous vs. Intraperitoneal, for Measurement of Blood-Brain Barrier in a Mouse Hemorrhage Model. Journal of Neuroscience Methods. 195:206-210, 2011
5. Hu Q, Ma Q, Zhan Y, He Z, Zhou C, Tang J, Zhang JH. Isoflurane Enhanced Hemorrhagic Transformation by Impairing Antioxidant Enzymes in Hyperglycemic MCAO Rats. Stroke, 42:1750-1756, 2011
6. Ma Q, Manaenko A, Khatibi N, Chen W, Zhang JH, Tang J. Vascular adhesion protein-1 inhibition provides neuroprotection from intracerebral hemorrhage induced brain injury in mice. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 31:881-893, 2011
7. Manaenko A, Fathali N, Chen H, Suzuki H, Williams S, Zhang JH, Tang J. Heat Shock Protein 70 Upregulation by Geldanamycin Reduces Brain Injury in a Mouse Model of Intracerebral Hemorrhage. Neurochemistry International, 57:844-850, 2010
8. Fathali N, Lekic T, Zhang JH, Tang J. Long-term evaluation of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor on hypoxic-ischemic brain damage in infant rats. Intensive Care Medicine, 36:1602-1608, 2010
9. Tong W, Chen W, Ostrowski RP, Ma Q, Souvenir R, Zhang L, Zhang JH, Tang J. Maternal hypoxia increases the activity of MMPs and decreases the expression of TIMPs in the brain of neonatal rats. Developmental Neurobiology, 70:182-194, 2010
10. Hyong A, Jadhav V, Lee S, Tong W, Rowe J, Zhang JH, Tang J. Rosiglitazone, a PPAR gamma agonist, attenuates inflammation after surgical brain injury in rodents. Brain Res. 1215:218-224, 2008
11. Titova E, Ostrowski R, Kevil C, Tong W, Rojas H, Sowers L, Zhang JH, Tang J. Reduced brain injury in CD18 deficient mice after experimental intracerebral hemorrhage. Journal of Neuroscience Research, 86:3240-3245, 2008
12. Tang J, Liu J, Zhou C, Ostanin D, Grisham M, Granger DN, Nanda A, Zhang JH. Role of NADPH Oxidase in the Brain Injury of Intracerebral Hemorrhage. J Neurochem. 94:1342-1350, 2005
13. Tang J, Liu J, Zhou C, Alexander S, Nanda A, Granger DN, Zhang JH. Deficiency of Metalloproteinase-9 Gene Enhances Brain Injury caused by Collagenase-Induced Intracerebral Hemorrhage. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 24:1133-1145, 2004
14. Kusaka I, Kusaka G, Zhou C, Ishikawa M, Nanda A, Granger DN, Zhang JH & Tang J. Role of AT1 Receptors and NAD(P)H Oxidase in Diabetes-Aggravated Ischemic Brain Injury. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 286(6):H2442-51, 2004