New Experimental Studies in Therapeutic Hypothermia and Temperature Management
Over the last couple of decades, research in laboratories around the world have concentrated on clarifying the pathophysiological events in models of brain and spinal cord injury that are sensitive to relatively small variations in temperature. These studies have emphasized that many secondary injury cascades are extremely temperature-sensitive and may underlie the documented beneficial effects of therapeutic hypothermia and temperature management. Although there has been significant success in translating preclinical data on hypothermia treatments to the clinic, there have been failures in demonstrating clinical efficacy in some patient populations. Thus, there is an ongoing need to learn from these clinical experiences and further investigate clinically relevant animal models and treatment strategies that more closely mimic the patient population being targeted for such an experimental treatment. Also, as the neuroscience field continues to expand and new cellular and molecular mechanisms of injury and repair are identified, new mechanistic investigations are needed to determine temperature sensitivity and the corresponding consequences on structural and functional outcomes.
This special issue will present original research and state-of-the-art review articles that provide new information currently being generated in many laboratories to advance this important field. With new molecular techniques, investigators are identifying novel cell signaling cascades and molecular targets that appear to be extremely important in the ability of temperature management approaches to affect outcome. Also, the field of drug-induced hypothermia has continued to evolve, and new compounds are being tested which may result in improved patient outcomes in the future.
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