Associate Professor, Phys Med & Rehab and Psychology Associate Director of Rehabilitation Research, SCRR University of Pittsburgh Phone: 412-383-2806 Fax: 412-624-0943 E-mail: klineae@upmc.edu This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Ph.D., University of California

 

Research Interests

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious medical problem affecting approximately 1.5 to 2 million people in the United States each year. An estimated 100,000 endure long-term disabilities that require rigorous, lengthy, and costly medical and rehabilitative care. My laboratory utilizes a clinically relevant rodent model of TBI to produce motor and cognitive deficits that are reminiscent of those seen in human patients. Therapeutic strategies such as pharmacotherapy and/or environmental enrichment, which may be considered a relevant experimental analogue of the clinical rehabilitation paradigm, are subsequently provided in an attempt to restore function and/or attenuate TBI-induced deficits. Recent therapeutic approaches in the laboratory include the utilization of moderate hypothermia, antioxidants, as well as DAergic and 5-HT1A receptor agonists. The long-term goals of the laboratory are to develop therapies that facilitate functional recovery after human TBI and to elucidate potential mechanisms for the observed effects. My laboratory is located in the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research (SCRR) where ample collaboration exists between brain experts from the Departments of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Neurological Surgery, and Critical Care Medicine. This wealth of knowledge, which includes, but is not limited to, numerous behavioral assessments as well as a variety of molecular and immunocytochemistry techniques, is available to graduate students whose interests are consistent with the overall goals of the laboratory. 

 

Recent Publications

 

• Hoffman AN, Malena RR, Westergom BP, Luthra P, Cheng JP, Aslam HA, Zafonte RD, Kline AE: Environmental enrichment-mediated functional improvement after experimental traumatic brain injury is contingent on task-specific neurobehavioral experience. Neurosci Lett 431: 226-230, 2008.

• Cheng JP, Aslam HA, Hoffman AN, Zafonte RD, Kline AE: The neurobehavioral benefit conferred by a single systemic administration of 8-OH-DPAT after brain trauma is confined to a narrow therapeutic window. Neurosci Lett 416: 165-168, 2007

• Kline AE, Massucci JL, Zafonte RD, Dixon CE, Defeo JR, Rogers EH: Differential effects of single versus multiple administrations of haloperidol and risperidone on functional outcome after experimental brain trauma. Crit Care Med 35: 919-924, 2007.

• Kline AE, Wagner AK, Westergom BP, Malena RR, Zafonte RD, Olsen AS, Sozda CN, Luthra P, Panda M, Cheng JP, Aslam HA:  Acute treatment with the 5-HT1A receptor agonist 8-OH-DPAT and chronic environmental enrichment confer neurobehavioral benefit after experimental brain trauma. Behav Brain Res 177: 186-194, 2007.

• Kline AE, Massucci JL, Dixon CE, Zafonte RD, Bolinger BD: The therapeutic efficacy conferred by the 5-HT1A receptor agonist 8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)tetralin (8-OH-DPAT) after experimental traumatic brain injury is not mediated by concomitant hypothermia. J Neurotrauma 21: 175-185, 2004.

• Massucci JL, Kline AE, Ma X, Zafonte RD, Dixon CE: Time dependent alterations in dopamine tissue levels and metabolism after experimental traumatic brain injury in rats.  Neurosci Lett 372: 127-131, 2004.