Wise Young, M.D., Ph.D.

Research Summary

Since 1979, we, as NYU School of Medicine Neurosurgery Laboratory investigators have studied mechanisms of injury and recovery in the brain and spinal cord, emphasizing neuroprotective, remyelinative, and regenerative therapies. We demonstrated and confirmed that the high-dose glucocorticoid methylprednisolone (MP) and opiate receptor blocker naloxone improve spinal cord blood flow and functional recovery in animals with spinal injuries. We participated in the National Acute Spinal Cord Injury Study (NASCIS) that tested both drugs in clinical trial and showed that MP significantly improved neurologic recovery in 1990. MP is now the standard clinical therapy for acute spinal cord injury (SCI). In 1991, we developed a very efficient, precise, and graded SCI model in rats. Eight leading SCI laboratories have adopted our SCI model and joined forces to form the first Multicenter Animal Spinal Cord Injury Study (MASCIS). Funded by the National Institutes of Health, MASCIS is the first cooperative effort to test dose, timing, and duration of new therapies systematically in a well-standardized and reproducible SCI model. We developed efficient methods to quantify tissue damage from sodium and potassium changes and to screen and assess combination therapies. In addition, we study axonal physiology of injured spinal cords. We found that the potassium channel blocker 4-aminopyridine (4AP) restores conduction in demyelinated axons in injured spinal cords. Recent clinical trials showed that 4AP improves motor and sensory function in patients with chronic SCI. We have also found that axons possess neurotransmitter receptors, including GABA, norepinephrine, and serotonin, and that these receptors control axonal excitability. Recently, we started studying regenerative therapies, utilizing genetically modified cells expressing cellular adhesion molecules and growth factors, to alter the environment of the spinal cord to encourage regeneration.

Research Interests

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