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Shiqiang Tian , Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
UTHSC, Medical School, (713) 500 - 6310
Shiqiang.Tian@uth.tmc.edu

Use of PC-NSAIDs in the Treatment of Central Nervous System Injury

The central nervous system is mainly formed by neurons and other supporting tissues. The neuronal tissue is susceptible to damage from restricted blood supply and the resulting insufficient supply of oxygen (ischemia). Because most neurons are difficult to regenerate, once an ischemic lesion is formed, the functional disturbance will generally persist throughout the rest lifetime of the patients. Therefore prevention and treatment of injury in central nervous system injury is critical. Drugs that show definitive evidence of blocking this ischemic process in the brain and its consequent inflammatory consequences are rare. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin and ibuprofen are widely used in the US, among which aspirin is the standard of care for the PREVENTION of ischemic brain injury. However, use of NSAIDs in acute episodes is not routinely employed. Our lab has developed a family of new NSAIDs, called PC-NSAIDs that possess increased anti-inflammatory activity and gastrointestinal safety, as demonstrated both in rodent experiments and in pilot clinical trials. We have also obtained evidence that these drugs, if parenterally administered shortly after spinal cord injury, can inhibit neuroinflammation and promote neural regeneration, as demonstrated by a recovery of locomotor activity. PC-NSAIDs may have a number of benefits over unmodified NSAIDs and other therapeutic strategies for the following reasons: 1) they penetrate the blood-brain barrier more readily due to their lipophilic properties; 2) choline precursors like citicoline, lecithin and other metabolites of PC have been demonstrated to provide a level of neuroprotection from brain ischemic attack; 3) exogenous PC can replenish and reconstruct damaged membranes.