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Targeting The Mitochondrial Transition Pore In Acute SCI Essay

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Under normal conditions, the mitochondria maintain cytosolic Ca2+ levels, which is necessary for normal cellular function. However, the mitochondrial uptake of excessive levels of Ca2+ can lead to inhibition of ATP synthesis, disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential, increased ROS production, and generation of the mitochondrial permeability transition (mPT) state, which is thought to occur in response to formation of the mPT pore. As a consequence, cellular demise can occur through necrotic-related mechanisms events, including a loss of energy production and oxidative stress as well as apoptotic-related mechanisms, including the mitochondrial release of pro-apoptotic proteins. Given the central role of the mitochondria in cell …show more content…

CsA as a Neuroprotective Agent: Benefits and Caveats. A number of experimental studies have demonstrated that CsA exhibits significant cytoprotective properties in traumatic brain injury (TBI), cerebral ischemia, and reperfusion injury following acute myocardial infarction. Given these observations, phase I clinical trials have been performed and follow-up trials are currently proposed to examine CsA as a therapy for the treatment of acute TBI (Empey et al. 2006). In addition, a recently published clinical study reported compelling evidence that CsA administration at the time of reperfusion results in a smaller infarct size in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (Piot et al. 2008). However, a role for CsA as a neuroprotective agent in experimental models of acute SCI is inconclusive as several studies report beneficial effects while others conclude that CsA is ineffective The reasons why CsA has not been as promising in promoting neuroprotection in models of SCI compared to the more extensive studies in TBI is not clear. It is apparent that existing SCI studies have tested a limited number of CsA dosing regimens relative to models of TBI (Sullivan et al. 2005). In addition, it is possible that these injury-related differences in the effectiveness of CsA treatment may be due to inherent differences in the functioning of brain and spinal cord mitochondria (Sullivan et al. 2004). Significantly lower

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