Massachusetts General Hospital

Volodymyr Dzhala, PhD

• Instructor in Neurology, Harvard Medical School
• Assistant in Neuroscience, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Neurology
• MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease
• Staley Lab

 

 

Research Description

My research efforts are to increase our understanding of the cause and course of pediatric epilepsy and to develop beneficial therapies. Seizures are one of the most common neurological conditions (second after migraine) encountered in humans. While seizures can occur at any age, they are far more common in children than adults. In neonatal intensive care units seizures occur in 1- 2 % of neonates, but there is no agreement concerning either the most appropriate diagnostic tests or the most appropriate treatment for such infants. Understanding epilepsy in this age group is difficult because the factors that trigger seizures are altered by the complexities of brain development. 

Studies in animal models have demonstrated the major developmental changes in the effects of inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA on neuronal network activity. We discovered a causal link between the developmental changes in the action of GABA, the higher propensity to seizures and anticonvulsant resistance in the immature brain. Our long-term specific aims are to determine the long-lasting dynamic changes in the action of GABA following brain trauma, hypoxia and seizures, and to correlate these changes with transition to the status epilepticus and with epileptogenesis.                                                                                                  

Research interests	Synaptic transmission and excitability of neuronal networks Modulation and plasticity of intrinsic and integrative properties of neurons Neuronal & network mechanisms of epilepsy
Research Techniques	Electrophysiology and biophysics laboratory techniques (extracellular multiple-electrode recording, intracellular recording, single-channel patch clamp); long-term optical imaging, two-photon microscopy
Diseases studied	Epilepsy
Selected publications	Dzhala V.,  Brumback A., Staley K. Bumetanide enhances Phenobarbital efficacy in a neonatal seizure model. Annals of Neurology 2008 Feb;63(2):222-35. Dzhala V., Talos D., Sdrulla D., Brumback A., Mathews G., Benke T., Delpire E., Jensen     F., Staley K. NKCC1 transporter facilitates seizures in the developing brain. Nature Medicine 2005; 11(11): 1205-1213. Dzhala V., Staley K. Mechanisms of fast ripples in the hippocampus. J Neurosci 2004; 24(40): 8896-8906. Dzhala V., Staley K. Transition from interictal to ictal activity in limbic networks in vitro. J Neurosci 2003; 23(21):  7873-7880. Dzhala V., Ben-Ari Y., Khazipov R. Seizures accelerate anoxia-induced neuronal death in the neonatal rat hippocampus. Annals of Neurology 2000; 48(4): 632-40.
NCBI PubMed link	NCBI PubMed Publications
NIH biosketch	Volodymyr Dzhala, PhD
E-mail address	vdzhala@partners.org
Lab mailing address	Massachusetts General Hospital Neurology, B114-2600 114 16th Street Charlestown, MA 02129
Lab telephone	617-643-0105
Lab, institute or center websites	www.massgeneral.org/neurology