Dr. Stracher's Research Continues
Legacy
Research Efforts calpain inhibitor ALA-.1 (Gabadur) 2014–2015
In 2014 2015 research programs for the investigation of the calpain inhibitor ALA-.1 (Gabadur) and the neuroprotective results of treatment in animal models of TBI and tinnitus have been continued at SUNY Downstate, Dept. of Physiology and Pharmacology and Departments of Otolaryngology, at SUNY Downstate, Brooklyn, NY and initiated at Wayne State University, Detroit. The efforts reflect a continuation of the original investigations of calpain, a proteolytic enzyme, by Albert Stracher, PhD and Leo Kesner, PhD, which led to the original synthesis of the new calpain inhibitors Neurodur, Myodur, and together with Abraham Shulman, MD, the new calpain inhibitor Gabadur.
The project leaders have been Douglas S.F. Ling, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, and Jinsheng, Zhang, Ph.D. Associate Research Director Laboratory of Tinnitus and Auditory Neuroscience Research, Department of Otolaryngology, Wayne State University - School of Medicine.
The goal continues to be the establishment of a multicenter program, starting at these two medical schools and extending to University Miami Department of Otolaryngology, Fred F. Telischi, M.D., MEE, Prof and Chairman,and Michael E Hoffer, M.D. The results of the investigations are planned to be submitted for short and long term grant support. Funding in 2014-2015 was provided by the Martha Entenmann Tinnitus Research Center, Inc.(METRC).
SUNY Downstate reported positive results for neuroprotection of brain structure after cortical trauma in the rodent-based, controlled cortical impact (CCI) model for TBI . The activity of Gabadur was confirmed with Western blot analysis, and protection against injury-induced neuronal degeneration was demonstrated with histological examination of brain tissue with Fluoro-Jade B staining. Rachelle Dugue, medical student and M.D.-Ph.D. candidate, who conducted the experiments, presented the results of the experiments for the team, which includes Hillary B. Michelson, Ph.D., Jeffrey Goodman, Ph.D., Getaw Hassen, M.D., Ph.D., and Abraham Shulman, M.D. The presentations included a poster at Annual Research Day, SUNY Downstate ( 4/2015) and at the recently concluded Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL (10/2015). The behavioral experiments are in the process of evaluation at this time.
Wayne State has reported and demonstrated positive behavioral results in the animal model for tinnitus.
Getaw Hassen, MD, PhD
Abraham Shulman, MD
The Effect of the Novel Calpain-Inhibitor Gabadur on Traumatic Brain Injury
Rachelle Dugue, Getaw Hassen, Peter Serrano, Hillary Michelson, Abraham Shulman, Jeffrey
Goodman, Douglas Ling
Ling Laboratory, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Goodman Laboratory, Institute for
Basic Research