Heng Zhao

Professional Education

Research Interests

My lab mainly studies the protective effect of postconditioning against stroke. Reperfusion (the restoration of blood flow) is one of the first choices for ischemic stroke treatment. However, reperfusion can also cause overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) or free radicals that lead to reperfusion injury. Limiting the damage caused by reperfusion is a key issue for stroke treatment. We were the first to demonstrate that interrupting the early hyperemic response after reperfusion reduces infarction after stroke, a novel phenomenon called postconditioning. Since postconditioning is performed after reperfusion, it has great potential for clinical application. In addition, we also study protective effect of preconditioning and mild hypothermia. The rationale for studying three means of neuroprotection is that we may discover mechanisms that these treatments have in common. Conversely, if they have differing mechanisms, we will be able to offer more than one treatment for stroke and increase a patient’s chance for recovery. Our researches include studying roles of caspase-dependent and independent apoptotic pathway, PKC pathways and Akt pathway, among others, in the ischemic damage development after stroke.

Publications

• Delayed postconditioning protects against focal ischemic brain injury in rats Ren, C, Gao, X, Niu, G, Yan, Z, Chen, X, Zhao, H. PLoS ONE. 2008
• Limb remote-preconditioning protects against focal ischemia in rats and contradicts the dogma of therapeutic time windows for preconditioning. Ren C, Gao X, Steinberg GK, Zhao H. Neuroscience. 2008; 151 (4): 1099-103
• The Akt signaling pathway contributes to postconditioning's protection against stroke; the protection is associated with the MAPK and PKC pathways. Gao X, Zhang H, Takahashi T, Hsieh J, Liao J, Steinberg GK, Zhao H. J Neurochem. 2008; 105 (3): 943-55
• Interrupting reperfusion as a stroke therapy: ischemic postconditioning reduces infarct size after focal ischemia in rats. Zhao H, Sapolsky RM, Steinberg GK. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2006; 26 (9): 1114-21
• Akt contributes to neuroprotection by hypothermia against cerebral ischemia in rats. Zhao H, Shimohata T, Wang JQ, Sun G, Schaal DW, Sapolsky RM, Steinberg GK. J Neurosci. 2005; 25 (42): 9794-806