Using Multi-Disease Animal Models to study Systemic Inflammation and Cerebrovascular Dysfunction

Patients with autoimmune diseases, such as RA, have a poorer prognosis following hemorrhagic stroke than the general population. Additionally, the incidence of hypertension and stroke are greater in arthritic patients than in the normal population. There is, however, gap in our understanding the mechanistic link between chronic systemic inflammation and increase in hemorrhagic stroke incidence. We address this gap by studying the mechanism(s) by which chronic systemic inflammation instigates cerebrovascular dysfunction, potentially leading to stroke using specific animal models that we have developed. We study cerebrovasculature changes preceding stroke in a systemic inflammatory state and/or in a high salt diet state using in vivo, in vitro and in situ settings.