PI: Kelly L. Drew, PhD

Key Personnel: Bernard Laughlin, DO

Over 500,000 Americans suffered cardiac arrest last year. Only 10% survived and were able to go home or to assisted living. Most died and those who survived required long-term care. Our research seeks to define how the brain regulates metabolic suppression in hibernation and to translate this knowledge for neurocritical care. Our findings have identified adenosine as a regulator of hibernation and the goal of our current research is to develop adenosine agonists to suppress thermogenesis and metabolism during targeted temperature management in cardiac arrest patients. We have developed an adenosine model of hibernation, and are testing hypotheses to define the role of adenosine in regulating seasonal expression of the hibernation phenotype such as increased sensitivity to adenosine receptor stimulation. We also study the metabolomics of hibernating animals to understand how metabolites signal transitions between torpor and arousal and are produced in the absence of food intake.

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