FSU MED Magazine Fall 2019, Vol. 15 | Page 6

s c i e n c e A measure of hope For the people – mostly young boys – who are diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, life is short. Usually between 20 and 30 years. The most common lethal genetic disorder among children, DMD is caused by a mutation preventing the body from producing a protein crucial to the health of skeletal, respiratory and cardiac muscles. Advances in treatment have helped to prolong some patients’ lifespans. However, as DMD patients age, their heart function declines dramatically. In collaboration with scientists across the nation, researchers at Florida State University and the University of California, Los Angeles have found that increased levels of the protein sarcospan improve cardiac function in DMD patients by reinforcing Levenson Concussion patients and ADHD – what we don’t know An estimated 6.1 million children are injury. But making such observations at the diagnosed with ADHD in the U.S. each level required by her study isn’t possible with intricate cardiac measurements to determine that the year. It’s not uncommon for physicians ordinary MRI technology. cell membrane does benefit even when the heart is to recommend sports and recreation as a placed under stress. healthy outlet for channeling their excess world’s strongest MRI just a short drive from energy. her College of Medicine lab. The National cardiac cell membranes. Confirming the protein’s effectiveness required Study co-author and FSU College of Medicine Associate Professor Jose Pinto helped to coordinate Yet sports-related concussions also are a High Magnetic Field Laboratory gives her the measurements, along with FSU graduate student risk, and little is known about how such the opportunity to run tissue scans with Karissa Dieseldorff Jones and University of injuries might impact a child with ADHD extraordinary levels of sensitivity, revealing Miami Miller School of Medicine research assistant compared with others. metabolic markers, blood flow deficits, white Rosemeire Kanashiro-Takeuchi. Cathy Levenson, professor of   “My graduate student, Karissa, was instrumental biomedical sciences and neuroscience, is in performing cardiac measurements and helping seeking to answer that question. with membrane stability tests along with Dr. She received funding from Harvard matter integrity and other important indicators of brain injury. “Without the facilities at the MagLab, this work would not be possible,” Levenson said. “It’s the ultra-high field strengths that enable us to to take part in this key pre-clinical study.” Hospital to better understand the make these kinds of measurements. Our hope neurobiological interaction of ADHD and is that if we can learn the system at these high concussions. The hospital’s Brain Injury fields, then we may learn how to better apply Rehabilitation Program works with people them clinically.” Kanashiro-Takeuchi,” Pinto said. “We were honored University’s Spaulding Rehabilitation who have sustained traumatic brain injuries and supports related research. Levenson teamed with Pradeep Bhide, the Jim and Betty Ann Rodgers Eminent Scholar Chair of Developmental 4 improve the lives of concussion patients with ADHD. “Ultimately, it’s about treatment, management and having the best outcomes model of both repetitive concussion and possible,” she said. “With this repetitive ADHD in a single brain – in mice. concussion model combined with the ADHD model and the power of the magnets at the Levenson and her team are able to observe MagLab, we’re hoping we can pinpoint some molecular responses in the brains of areas of the brain that we can target.” mice who have both ADHD and a brain Pinto And that, Levenson says, is the goal: to make discoveries that clinicians can leverage to Neuroscience, to produce a high-fidelity With an effective model in place, Fortunately, Levenson has access to the