University of Glamorgan Takes Neurovascular Research (& PowerLab) to New Heights

In theory, the University of Glamorgan’s Neurovascular Research Laboratory is located in Pontypridd, in the south of Wales. In practice, the last few years have seen the researchers, led by Professor Damian M Bailey, pack up their PowerLab and other lab equipment and take it up some of the world’s highest mountains.

"We’re exploring why the brain has evolved to become so dependant on oxygen…and what happens when the brain is challenged by a lack of oxygen, a condition known as hypoxia," explains Professor Bailey. "Specifically, we want to understand how biologically relevant free radicals impact upon the cerebral circulation. These tiny biomolecules are like double-edged swords; they can cause damage when in excess but are important for getting oxygen to the brain in physiologically-controlled amounts".

The Brain at 6500 Metres

To achieve these aims, Professor Bailey and his team travel to high altitude locations where the brain is naturally deprived of oxygen, and provides them with unique insight into potential mechanisms that underpin disease. "Many diseases of the brain – including stroke, migraine, Alzheimers, Parkinsons and ALS – are caused or at least aggravated by an increase in free radicals, which can cause inflammation and deprive the brain of sufficient oxygen," says Professor Bailey. "We’re looking at how healthy brains respond and adapt to a lack of oxygen, with a specific focus on free radicals."

In 2005, Professor Bailey moved his lab to a hut in the Swiss-Italian Alps at 4600 metres above sea level, where researchers studied free radical generation in both themselves and volunteer mountaineers. They were exploring a link between the hypoxic brain and high-altitude pulmonary oedema, a potentially lethal condition that shares many similarities with pulmonary arterial hypertension at sea-level.

Earlier this year, the researchers took a group of student volunteers up Russia’s Mount Elbrus (5634 metres above sea level), Europe’s highest mountain, and monitored them for signs of structural changes to the brain using sophisticated MRI techniques. This month, the lab will reach its highest point yet, at 6500 metres above sea level on Parinacota, a volcano on the Chilean-Bolivian boarder. Professor Bailey’s team will again focus on the cerebral circulation and explore the possibility that the headache of high-altitude that gives rise to acute mountain sickness (AMS) is caused by a free radical-mediated impairment in oxygen-sensitive gene activation and cerebral autoregulation.

PowerLab & the Climbing Laborator

"The PowerLab system allow us to centralize and assess data online, and then take it all away in one laptop," says Professor Bailey. Additionally, "PowerLab is crucial for synchronising MAP, middle cerebral artery velocity, cerebral arterial velocity and cerebral oxygenation, enabling us to perform transform function analysis and associated calculations for cerebral autoregulation".

The team uses a PowerLab 16/30 to collect data from a range of different instruments measuring physiological variables, including mean arterial pressure, cerebral blood flow, middle cerebral velocity, cerebral oxygenation, arterial stiffness and cerebral regulation. The laboratory’s studies combine classic physiological and molecular techniques, and the researchers also measure free radicals, nitric oxide and markers of blood brain barrier function to provide insight into the mechanisms that allow these mountaineers’ brains to adapt to severe hypoxia.

Working inside the mountain-top lab.

More Information

• Watch BBC News Coverage as the Researchers Prepare for Russia

• Read About PowerLab Research in the Himalayas

09 December 2008