SCoBIRC FACULTY

Edward D. Hall, Ph.D.

Director, Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center

Professor, Departments of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Neurology and Neurosurgery. Ph.D., Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences (1976). Postdoctoral training at Cornell University Medical College.

Research Interests

Pharmacological Treatments for Acute Brain and Spinal Cord Injury
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and spinal cord injury (SCI) are among the most serious consequences that human beings can suffer. In most cases of TBI and SCI, the neurological, economic and social consequences are devastating to the patient, his or her family and to society as a whole. Although high dose treatment with the glucocorticoid steroid methylprednisolone has been shown to have some beneficial effect in SCI patients, there are no clinically proven and approved pharmacological therapies for acute treatment of TBI patients aimed at mitigating the damaging neurological effects of their injuries. Nevertheless, hope for improved treatments for SCI and the possibility of an effective treatment for TBI is derived from the fact that although some of the neural injury in both instances is due to the primary mechanical events (i.e. shearing of nerve cells and blood vessels), the majority of post-traumatic degeneration is due to a pathochemical and pathophysiological cascade of secondary events occurring in the first minutes, hours and days which exacerbates the effects of the primary injury that can be interrupted by pharmacological approaches.

Dr. Hall's laboratory is focused upon the further understanding of the secondary injury process that follows mechanical trauma to the brain or spinal cord, and the discovery of novel pharmacological treatments that will inhibit post-traumatic neurodegeneration and/or enhance neurological recovery. His laboratory is presently interested in the roles of reactive oxygen-mediated oxidative and calpain-mediated cytoskeletal damage mechanisms and their pharmacological interruption. In addition, he is looking at gender differences in post-traumatic brain damage and the mechanisms of estrogen mediated neuroprotection.

Dr. Hall's ongoing research is funded by grants from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Kentucky Spinal Cord & Head Injury Research Trust.

Representative Publications

Hall, E.D., M.R. Detloff, K. Johnson and N.C. Kupina. Peroxynitrite-mediated protein nitration and lipid peroxidation in a mouse model of traumatic brain injury. J. Neurotrauma 21:9-20, 2004.

Hall, E.D., P.G. Sullivan, T.R. Gibson, K.M. Pavel, B.M. Thompson and S.W. Scheff. Spatial and temporal characteristics of neurodegeneration after controlled cortical impact in mice: more that a focal brain injury. J. Neurotrauma 22:252-265, 2005.

Hall, E.D., K.M. Pavel and T.R. Gibson. Lack of gender difference in post-traumatic neurodegeneration in the mouse controlled cortical impact injury model. J. Neurotrauma 22:669-679, 2005.

Singh, I. N., P.G. Sullivan, Y. Deng, L.H. Mbye and E.D. Hall. Time course of post-traumatic mitochondrial oxidative damage and dysfunction in a mouse model of focal traumatic brain injury: implications for neuroprotective therapy. J. Cereb. Blood Flow & Metab. 26:1407-1418, 2006.

S.N. Thompson, T.R. Gibson, B.M. Thompson, Y. Deng and E.D. Hall. Relationship of calpain-mediated proteolysis to the expression of axonal and synaptic plasticity markers following traumatic brain injury in mice. Exp. Neurol. 201:253-265, 2006.

Chen, Q., S. Wang, S.N. Thompson, E.D. Hall and R.P. Guttmann. Identification and characterization of PEBP as a calpain substrate. J. Neurochem. 99:1133-1141, 2006.

Xiong, Y., A.G. Rabchevsky and E.D. Hall. Role of peroxynitrite in secondary oxidative damage after spinal cord injury. J. Neurochem. 100:639-649, 2007.

Deng, Y., B.M. Thompson, X. Gao and E.D. Hall. Temporal relationship of peroxynitrite-induced oxidative damage, calpain-mediated cytoskeletal degradation and neurodegeneration after traumatic brain injury. Exp. Neurol. 205:154-165, 2007.

Pandya, J.D., J.R. Pauly, V.N. Nukala, A.H. Sebastian, K.M. Day, A.S. Korde, W.F. Maragos, E.D. Hall and P.G. Sullivan. Post-injury administration of mitochondrial uncouplers increases tissue sparing and improves behavioral outcome following traumatic brain injury in rodents. J. Neurotrauma 24:798-811, 2007.

Singh, I.N., P.G. Sullivan and E.D. Hall. Peroxynitrite-mediated oxidative damage to brain mitochondria: protective effects of peroxynitrite scavengers. J. Neurosci. Res. 85:2216-2223, 2007.

E.D. Hall. Stroke/traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. In: Comprehensive Medicinal Chemistry II (Vol. 6, Central Nervous System, M.Williams, ed.) D.J. Triggle and J.B. Taylor (Series Eds.) Elsevier Ltd., Oxford, 2007, pp. 253-277.

Hall, E.D., Y. Deng, W. Cho and P.G. Sullivan. Evolution of post-traumatic neurodegeneration after controlled cortical impact traumatic brain injury in mice and ratsas assessed by the de Olmos silver and fluorojade staining techniques. J. Neurotrauma 25:235-247, 2008.

Mbye, L.H., I.N Singh, P.G. Sullivan, J.E. Springer and E.D. Hall. Attenuation of acute mitochondrial dysfunction after traumatic brain injury in mice by NIM811, a non-immunosuppressive cyclosporin A analog. Exp. Neurol. 209:243-253, 2008.

Deng-Bryant, Y, I.N. Singh, K.M. Carrico and E.D. Hall. Neuroprotective effects of tempol, a catalytic scavenger of peroxynitrite-dervied free radicals, in a mouse traumatic brain injury model. J. Cereb. Blood Flow & Metab. 28:1114-1126, 2008.

Gao, X., Deng-Bryant, Y., Cho, W., Carrico, K.M, Hall, E.D and Chen, J. Selective death of newborn neurons in hippocampal dentate gyrus following moderate experimental traumatic brain injury. J. Neurosci. Res. 86:2258-2270, 2008.

Mbye, L.H., Singh, I.N., Carrico, K.M., Saatman, K.E. and Hall, E.D. Comparative neuroprotective effects of cyclosporine A and NIM811, a non-immunosuppressive cyclosporine A analog, following traumatic brain injury. J. Cereb. Blood Flow & Metab. 29:87-97, 2009.

Xiong, Y. and Hall, E.D. Pharmacological evidence for a role of peroxynitrite in the pathophysiology of spinal cord injury. Exp. Neurol. 216: 105-114, 2009.

E.D. Hall. Free radicals and neuroprotection in traumatic brain and spinal cord injury. In: Handbook of Neurochemistry and Molecular Neurobiology, 3rd Edition, (Volume 24, S. Ray and N.L. Banik, Ed.) A. Lajtha (Series Ed.), Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 203-229, 2008.