UCLA brain program receives grant to further trauma research

Monday, July 6, 1998

UCLA brain program receives grant to further trauma research

DONATION: Center uses funding to explore, test conventional
theories

By Shannan Rouss

Daily Bruin Contributor

The UCLA Brain Injury Research Program was honored July 1 with a
$3.5 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Strokes (NINDS) to continue its innovative research
on the brain’s response following traumatic injury.

"There is a traumatic brain injury occurring once in every 10
seconds in the United States," said Donald P. Becker, program
director for the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center.

"Traumatic brain injury is an enormous health problem in terms
of human suffering, social dysfunction and economic drain," Becker
said, acknowledging the social impact of brain injuries.

California speaker of the House and UCLA alumnus Antonio
Villaraigosa was on hand to assure the UCLA researchers that their
work would not be ignored by state legislators. He announced a plan
to encourage state funding for traumatic brain injury research.

"Brain injuries can cause severe, long-term personal and
financial suffering – not only to the injured person, but to their
families and to their careers. We should do all we can to alleviate
such suffering and to understand this injury," he noted,
reaffirming Becker’s statement.

Next year, Villaraigosa plans to introduce legislation that will
provide an ongoing stream of money to augment UCLA’s brain trauma
research.

"We applaud the work done by UCLA’s Brain Injury Research
Program – they have the resources, the know-how and the dedication
to do the job," he said.

With the collaborative efforts of a team of principal
investigators and the five-year grant awarded to the Traumatic
Brain Injury Research Center, UCLA hopes to stay at the forefront
of brain injury research as traditional theories continue to be
challenged.

While conventional wisdom holds that the brain is in a resting
state following a traumatic head injury, David A. Hovda, co-program
director of the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center, explained the
brain is still active.

"When the head is injured, the use of glucose increases, oxygen
metabolism decreases and the cerebral blood flow loses its signal
to respond to the energy demand," said Hovda.

"Efficient energy production is lost and, like a car, the brain
will stall," he added.

This dysfunctional metabolic state of the brain is called
hyperglycolysis. During this state, glucose, the brain’s sole
source of energy, is consumed at an abnormally high rate and the
decreased blood flow to the brain fails to replenish the brain’s
glucose reserves.

It was this discovery that brought UCLA’s program the attention
and accolades which led to the donation.

Giving emphasis to cutting-edge research, the UCLA Brain Injury
Research Center can evaluate the injury-induced metabolic events
using minimally invasive techniques.

UCLA’s researchers believe that "understanding the timing and
consequences of the metabolic cascade is of utmost importance."

With the grant, the Brain Injury Research Program hopes to
determine at what point interventional therapies might be employed
to prevent brain damage.PATIL ARMENIAN

Neil A. Martin, of the UCLA neuroscience department, speaks on
brain injuries at a reception.