New research from Louisiana State University (LSU) in New Orleans could lead to a treatment that prevents long-term sensory problems that arise from brain damage that can occur in survivors of cardiac arrest.

The study, conducted on rodents, was published online in the Society of Nueroscience’s journal eNuero. It was led by Jason Middleton, PhD, an assistant professor of cell biology and anatomy at LSU’s School of Medicine.

Middleton’s study examined the long-term impact of cardiac arrest on the cortex of rats by measuring their sensory responses. Results showed that cardiac arrest and resuscitation permanently affect cortical circuit function in survivors.

According to the researchers, the data could lay the groundwork for future studies to pinpoint therapeutic targets that could restore the excitatory and inhibitory balance in an injured brain.

"Our work characterizes the changes that occur in the sensory cortex after a form of global hypoxic injury in juvenile rats," Middleton said in a statement. "The injury did not result in widespread cell death as occurs in other forms of acute, focal ischemic injury; the deficits uncovered were subtler and reflected decreased ability of the cortex to discriminate sensory stimuli. We used computer modeling of the neural network to implicate changes in the balance of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission in the cortex."