FOR 1103:  Neurodegeneration and Regeneration in Canine CNS Diseases

• Subject Area: Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine
• Term: from 2009 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 71431339

Dogs play an important role in veterinary medicine. Of all veterinary relevant species, the dog is most frequently presented with neurological symptoms in veterinary practice. Due to this fact, this field deserves further studies, and new approaches with respect to research and therapy are strongly required. Therefore, the aim of this Research Unit is to obtain new scientific knowledge in a defined field of biomedical science for canine species. The research focusses on the pathogenesis of regenerative and degenerative processes in the canine central nervous system (CNS) and possible therapeutical approaches being deduced from it. Numerous dog diseases bear a resemblance to human diseases. Hence, the expected results are of particular importance for a better understanding of human brain diseases.
In the present study the mainly scheduled pathogenetical examinations of regenerative and degenerative processes in the CNS will be conducted on three selected, commonly occurring canine diseases: canine distemper, traumatic lesions of the spinal cord and epilepsy. Canine distemper is a viral infection resulting in neuropathological changes, which are mostly in accordance with lesions seen in human multiple sclerosis. As in humans, traumatic lesions of the spinal cord in dogs represent a frequently observed consequence of intervertebral disc prolapse. In dogs as well as in humans, epilepsy ranks among the most common chronic neurological disorders. It often develops after brain insults such as injuries, inflammation, febrile convulsions or tumours.
Upcoming questions and formulated hypotheses shall be answered and tested by means of studies in dogs, tissue cultures and rodent models. The interdisciplinary Research Unit, composed of experts from the fields of veterinary medicine, biology and human medicine, provides a unique comparative study of (1) degenerative processes and (2) regenerative potential in the canine CNS as well as (3) development of novel therapeutical approaches.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• International Connection: Austria

Projects

• Administration (Applicant Baumgärtner, Ph.D., Wolfgang )
• Bedeutung der Makroglia-Mikroglia/Makrophagen-Interaktion für die Regenerationskapazität des traumatisierten kaninen Rückenmarks (Applicants Baumgärtner, Ph.D., Wolfgang ;  Ulrich, Ph.D., Reiner )
• Modulation der Mikrogliafunktion zur Erkrankungsmodifikation und Prävention von Epilepsien (Applicant Potschka, Heidrun )
• Neuromodulation, Entzündungshemmung und Neuroprotektion als Strategien zur Epilepsieprävention (Applicant Löscher, Wolfgang )
• Stickstoffmonoxid (NO)- und Kohlenmonoxid (CO)- vermittelte Signaltransduktion in einem Kokulturmodell aus Gliazellen und Modellneuronen (Applicant Bicker, Gerd )
• Transplantation von Schwann-Zellen in das Rückenmark paraplegischer Hunde (Applicant Tipold, Andrea )
• Untersuchung der Rolle von regulatorischen T-Zellen in der Pathogenese von Virus-induzierten Erkrankungen des zentralen Nervensystems (Applicants Beineke, Andreas ;  Hühn, Jochen )
• Untersuchung des modulierenden Effektes mesenchymaler Stammzellen im ZNS zur Förderung der Remyelinisierung und axonaler Regeneration (Applicants Baumgärtner, Ph.D., Wolfgang ;  Stangel, Martin )
• Zelltransplantation und intrazerebrale Substanzapplikation bei traumatischen Rückenmarkserkrankungen und Epilepsien (Applicants Gernert, Manuela ;  Radtke, Christine )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Wolfgang Baumgärtner, Ph.D.