Hypoxia-Ischemia: What the heck is it? What's it got to do with me?

I just realized that I work in a Neuroscience lab which means I have a whole ton of material to write about. 

First thing's first, what am I studying?

I (the lab) am studying the effects of an inter-alpha-inhibitor-protein in a neonatal rodent model of hypoxia-ischemia to see if working memory is improved by the treatment. 

That's a whole lot of bla, bla, bla.  Here's what's going on in simple terms:

The medical field is getting better and better at keeping babies alive.  They have the ability to, for example, give life to a 3 pound baby that would have died a hundred years ago.  This is a good thing.  KEEPING BABIES ALIVE IS A GOOD THING!  But, unfortunately, these babies are at a high risk of brain injury.  Hypoxia-ischemia is simply a fancy term for 'brain injury caused by lack of blood to the brain,' and it's often found in very low birth weight babies. 

This injury is not only very dangerous immediately after it happens, but it can also have long term negative effects.  Cerebral palsy, ADHD, mental retardation, language learning defects, and a slew of other bad stuff can happen to those affected by it. 

What are the effective treatments for Hypoxia-Ischemia? 

Right now, the only effective treatment is to essentially 'freeze' the baby (i.e. induce hypothermia) to prevent any further damage after the initial injury.  Parents really don't want to hear their doctor say, "Well Mr. and Mrs. Smith, your baby just received a brain injury and to make sure that it doesn't get any worse, we're going to put it in the freezer."

So my lab is testing a protein that will help reduce damage that is caused by the initial injury, and because it may be a bit unethical to take a bunch of human babies into the lab and subject them to tests, we are using rodents who are very similar anatomically to humans. 

Stay tuned!!!