IHRF Funds IH Animal Model Project at University of Arkansas
January 1, 2005—IHRF has awarded its first research grant of $18,000 to Wayne Kuenzel, Ph.D. at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas to confirm whether the chicken is an animal model for intracranial hypertension. The research team is being led by Dr. Kuenzel, who is a world authority on avian neurophysiology. Dr. Kuenzel’s project is expected to continue for one year.
Two anatomists from Cambridge University first described the chicken as a potential IH model in 1956. They believed that chicken in particular could develop intracranial hypertension from a vitamin A-reduced diet. The evidence that they presented was compelling enough for the Foundation to investigate and attempt to duplicate their results.
The project will include both dietary and surgical (jugular vein ligation) trials to induce intracranial hypertension.
Update: Results from the study were published in Poultry Science, March 2006. While the study included the both the dietary and surgical trials, the outcome indicated that elevation of intracranial pressure occurred in both cases but the elevation occurred quicker, more consistently and more severely in cases of jugular vein ligation (cerebral venous intracranial hypertension). The results have stimulated our interest in the venous hypertension approach.