Lynne
Weaver studies the reactions of spinal cord neurons to traumatic
injury of the spinal cord and potential neuroprotective treatments.
Cellular responses to cord injury range from death to growth.
After this injury, the portion of the cord below the injury that
has been deprived of input from the brain undergoes significant
changes in organization. Moreover, major growth responses also
occur above the injury site. Rather than promoting recovery these
changes can lead to the development of exaggerated spinal reflexes,
grossly abnormal blood pressure control, and states of chronic
pain. Recent work in Weaver's laboratory implicates secondary
damage to the spinal cord as a key cause of the exaggerated reflexes.
This damage and rampant sprouting of some specific spinal and
sensory pathways leads to serious consequences that may be prevented
as part of them may be attributed to the initial inflammatory
response to spinal cord injury. Her current studies have addressed
inflammation as a key problem in the secondary damage. Her laboratory
has undertaken a systematic investigation of the human inflammatory
response to spinal cord injury, showing an extensive role for
this process in the early days after injury. Cells in the spinal
cord and in the blood of cord-injured people develop the potential
to be very damaging. The goal of her work is to develop treatments
to either block the entry of destructive cells into the injured
spinal cord or to make them less damaging before they arrive.
She and collaborator Dr. Gregory Dekaban, have shown that a novel
new anti-inflammatory treatment can improve neurological function
after cord injury, including ability to walk, normal sensation
and normal blood pressure control. This appears to be due to sparing
of a rim of axons around the injury site, suppression of abnormal
growth of pain related axons and blockade of damaging oxidative
processes that occur soon after the spinal cord is injured. This
treatment shows great promise for improving the outcome of spinal
cord injury. Current studies are targeted at understanding all
of the mechanisms by which this and other novel anti-inflammatory
treatments work and whether they can develop as treatments for
human spinal cord injury.
Key
Research Issues:
What is the human response
to spinal cord injury in the first few days?
Can we protect the
human spinal cord from secondary damage after spinal cord injury?
Will novel anti-inflammatory
treatments improve the outcome after spinal cord injury?
EDUCATION & AWARDS:
Education B.Sc., Michigan
State University
D.V.M., Michigan State University
Ph.D., Michigan State University
Training Postdoctoral Intern, Animal Medical Centre, New York, New
York
Research Associate/Instructor, Michigan State University, Department
of Pharmacology
National Institutes of Health Research Career Development Award
Michigan State University Distinguished Faculty Award
Medical Research Council Research Associateship (declined)
Ontario Heart and Stroke Foundation Career Investigator Award
Barbara Turnbull Challenge Project
Director of New Emerging Team in Spinal Cord Injury (CIHR Award)
Frontiers in Research Excellence Visiting Scholar - The Miami Project
to Cure Paralysis
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
1. Bao, F, Chen, Y.,
Dekaban, G.A. and L.C. Weaver. Early inflammatory
treatment reduces lipid peroxidation and protein nitration after
spinal cord injury in rats. J. Neurochem., 88: 1335-1344, 2004.
2. Gris, D., Marsh, D.R., Oatway, M.A., Chen, Y. Hamilton, E.F.,
Dekaban, G.A., and Weaver, L.C. Transient blockade
of the CD11d/CD18 integrin reduces secondary damage after spinal
cord injury, improving sensory autonomic, and motor function.
J. Neurosci., 24(16):4043-4051, 2004.
3. Brown, A., Ricci M.-J., and L.C. Weaver. NGF
message and protein expression in the injured rat spinal cord.
Exp. Neurol., 188: 115-127, 2004.
4. Oatway, M.
A., Chen, Y. and L.C. Weaver. The 5-HT3 receptor
facilitates at-level mechanical allodynia following spinal cord
injury, Pain, 110: 259-68, 2004.
5. Oatway, M.A., Chen, Y., Bruce, G.A., Dekaban, G.A. and L.C.
Weaver. A novel anti-inflammatory treatment restores
serotonergic inputs to the dorsal, intermediate and ventral horns
of the injured spinal cord. J. Neurosci. 25: 637-647, 2005.
CONTACT INFO
Lynne C. Weaver
Bio Therapeutics Research Group
Robarts Research Institute
P.O. Box 5015, 100 Perth Drive
London, ON N6A 5K8
Canada
Phone: (519) 931-5299 Fax: (519) 931-5789
E-mail: lcweaver@robarts.ca
Ilda Moniz
imoniz@robarts.ca
Administrative Assistant
(519) 931-5718
Scientist C.V. Lynne C. Weaver
98 kb PDF file (Adobe Acrobat required)
Scientist Websites:
The University of Western Ontario, Department of Physiology and
Pharmacology
and
The
University of Western Ontario, Department of Neuroscience
