Ibolya Rutkai-Green
Tulane University of Louisiana, LA·Physiology
As we age, the blood vessels that feed the brain decline, and blood flow to the brain drops. Aging is a major risk factor for stroke, heart disease and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.
- Fields
Physiology
Neuroscience
Pharmacology
- Topics
brain aging
cerebral microvasculature
blood-brain barrier
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Apr 2028
What they work on
- Test whether reduced brain blood flow (hypoperfusion), produced in mice by narrowing both carotid arteries (BCAS), worsens age-related leakiness of the blood-brain barrier, using in vivo two-photon microscopy in young and old mice of both sexes.
- Map the brain's blood vessel network and follow mitochondrial dynamics in vessel-lining cells in real time, using mito-Dendra2 mice whose mitochondria carry a fluorescent tag.
- Identify proteins in the brain vasculature that change with aging and hypoperfusion, using discovery proteomics, immunofluorescence and Western blot.
- Test whether a mitochondria-targeted tetrapeptide protects vascular mitochondria and limits blood-brain barrier dysfunction in aged mice with hypoperfusion.
More about the research
It is unclear, however, whether the vessel damage that builds up over time or aging itself drives this decline. This project asks how aging and reduced brain blood flow, called hypoperfusion, change the brain's small vessels over time. It focuses on the blood-brain barrier, the tight vessel lining that controls what passes from blood into brain tissue. It also focuses on the mitochondria, the energy-producing compartments, inside the cells that line these vessels, called endothelial cells.
Why it matters
Reduced blood flow to the brain and leaky brain blood vessels accompany aging and may contribute to Alzheimer's disease and other age-related brain disorders. By showing how aging and hypoperfusion damage mitochondria in the vessel lining, this work could reveal mechanisms behind these conditions. Testing a mitochondria-targeted peptide could point toward ways to protect brain vessels in older adults.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Reggie Lee
University of South Florida, FL·Neuroscience
Determine how the enzyme SGK1 reduces brain blood flow after cardiac arrest in rodents, using two-photon microscopy and laser speckle contrast imaging, and identify blood-vessel signaling molecules with PCR, capillary immunoassay, and ELISA.
Jason D Huber
West Virginia University, WV·Pharmacology
Test whether NL-1, a compound that binds the mitochondrial protein mitoNEET, prevents ferroptosis (iron-dependent cell death) in a four-cell Transwell blood-brain barrier model after oxygen-glucose deprivation and reperfusion.
Amal Khalil Kaddoumi
Augusta University, GA·Pharmacology
Compare how well racemic etodolac and its R- and S-forms improve a cell-based blood-brain barrier model with amyloid-β pathology, measuring barrier permeability, Aβ clearance and RNA expression changes across doses.
The school
Tulane University of Louisiana: 17 labs on PI Pages, $276M a year on research, 187 research doctorates a year.
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