Rees Lab ~ Developmental Brain Research

Principal investigator: Sandra Rees

• Projects
• Publications
• Contact us

WELCOME to the Rees Lab. Our lab is interested in the development of the fetal nervous system and in factors which might compromise its normal growth in utero . In particular we are investigating the effects of acute and chronic hypoxia, infection, chronic placental insufficiency and premature delivery on brain and retinal development.

Introduction

There is now compelling evidence that many neurological disorders which become apparent after birth have their origins during fetal life. For example, epidemiological studies have shown that cerebral palsy, a group of non-progressive motor impairment disorders, most frequently results from prenatal rather than perinatal or postnatal causes.

Minimal cerebral brain dysfunction, typified by children having general reading writing and cognitive problems, is often associated with intra-uterine growth restriction (IUGR) suggesting that the neurological problems have their origins in utero. Schizophrenia, one of the most debilitating of mental disorders, affecting ~1% of the population, cannot be accounted for entirely by genetic inheritance.

On the basis of histological and neurochemical observations it has been proposed that prenatal insults result in a vulnerability of the developing brain, predisposing an individual with risk factors (such as genetic inheritance) to develop the symptoms of schizophrenia in the teenage or young adult years. Other disorders such as epilepsy and autism are also thought to result in part from neurodevelopmental problems. Thus, there is growing evidence that abnormal development of the brain during gestation contributes to many neurological disorders which manifest in later life.

In order to understand the mechanisms involved in these forms of abnormal development it is necessary to develop animal models. The focus of our laboratory has been to develop models of premature birth and prenatal insults including hypoxia, malnutrition, infection and alcohol exposure and by studying their effects on the structure and function of the central nervous system (including the retina) we will be in a position to develop strategies to ameliorate and/or prevent the damaging effects of perinatal brain injury.

Developing myelination (Black Gold staining) in the primate cerebellum.