Phillip Popovich Research Interests

Neuroimmunology of spinal cord injury, immunological influences on neuronal degeneration and regeneration, neuroendocrine influences on inflammatory mediated injury/repair of the CNS, neuropathology.

Research Summary

The primary thrust of this laboratory is to learn how inflammation influences cell survival and repair of the injured spinal cord. Unlike most tissues of the body, the brain and spinal cord (collectively referred to as the central nervous system or CNS) are not capable of significant regeneration following injury. However, given that inflammation is an inevitable consequence of the injury, it may be possible to develop new therapies which harness the organism's own immune system to promote tissue reconstruction, neural regeneration, and/or remyelination. Ongoing studies are attempting to define the role played by microglia, macrophages and lymphocytes in these processes. Also, because spinal cord injury may affect the normal sympathetic innervation of lymphoid tissues (e.g., lymph nodes, spleen, bone marrow), this laboratory is exploring the relationship between spinal trauma and regulation of inflammation in the periphery. Such studies could provide insight to clinical problems such as hyperalgesia, inability to repair surgical wounds and the development of pressure sores/decubiti that are common in spinal injured patients. As such, this research group is dedicated to studying the complex interrelationship between CNS injury, inflammation and tissue repair.

Publications
Popovich, P.G. and Jones, T.B. Manipulating neuroinflammatory reactions in the injured spinal cord: back to basics. Trends Pharmacol. Sci., 24(1):13-17, 2003.

Popovich, P.G., van Rooijen, N., Hickey, W.F., Preidis, G., McGaughy, V. Hematogenous macrophages express CD8 and distribute to regions of cavitating pathology after spinal cord injury. Exp. Neurol, 182, 275-287, 2003 (doi:10.1016/S0014-4886(03)00120-1
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0014-4886(03)00120-1.

Sroga, J.M., Jones, T.B., McGaughy, V. and Popovich, P.G. Rats and mice exhibit distinct inflammatory responses after spinal cord injury, J. Comp. Neurol, 462(2):223-240, 2003.

Jones, T.B., Ankeny, D.P., Guan, Z., McGaughy, V., Fisher, L., Basso, D.M., Popovich, P.G. Passive or active immunization with myelin basic protein impairs neurological function and exacerbates neuropathology after spinal cord injury in rats. J. Neurosci., 24(15) 3752-3761, 2004.

Jones, T.B., McDaniel, E.E., Popovich, P.G. Inflammatory-mediated injury and repair in the traumatically injured spinal cord. Current Pharmaceutical Design, 11(10) 1223-1236, 2005.

Jones, T.B., Hart, R.P., Popovich, P.G. Molecular control of physiological and pathological T-cell recruitment to the injured mouse spinal cord. J. Neurosci., 25(28) 6576-6583, 2005.

Kigerl, K.A., McGaughy, V.M., Popovich, P.G. A comparative analysis of lesion development and inflammation in four strains of mice following spinal contusion injury, J. Comp. Neurol., 494(4) 578-594, 2006.

Pasterkamp, R.J., Dai, H. Terman, J.R., Wahlin, K., Kim, B., Bregman, B.S., Popovich, P.G., Kolodkin, A.L. MICAL flavoprotein monooxygenases: expression in the developing and adult rat nervous system and following spinal cord injuries, Mol. Cell. Neurosci, 31(1),52-69, 2006.

Kigerl, K and Popovich, P, Drug evaluation: ProCord – a potential cell-based therapy for spinal cord injury, IDrugs, 9(5): 354-360, 2006.

Basso, D.M., Fisher, L.C., Anderson, A.J., Jakeman, L.B. McTigue, D.M., Popovich, P.G. The Basso Mouse Scale for Locomotion (BMS) Detects Differences in Recovery After Spinal Cord Injury in Five Common Mouse Strains. J. Neurotrauma, 23(5) 635-659, 2006.

Related Web Links:
http://www.apacure.com/
http://www.cureparalysis.org/
http://www.goes.com/~billr/
http://www.edc.gsph.pitt.edu/neurotrauma/index.html

back to top