Chris Ikonomidou
MD, PhD, University of Goettingen, Germany
Professor, Child Neurology

Contact Information:
Waisman Center
UW-Madison
1500 Highland Avenue
Madison, WI 53705
E-mail: ikonomidou@wisc.edu

Research Statement

The goal of my research is to understand how the developing brain reacts to various insults and find ways to protect it. The knowledge gained may help optimize therapeutic interventions in infants born prematurely, infants and children with brain injuries, seizures, neurodevelopmental disorders or cancer. My research focuses on how environmental factors may interfere with normal brain development and cause neurologic impairment. My group has investigated impact of alcohol, sedative and antiepileptic drugs, drugs of abuse, oxygen, hypoxia-ischemia and trauma on the developing rat and mouse brain. We described that during the early postnatal period these factors can cause massive apoptotic cell death in the brain and also impair cell birth and neurogenesis. I am interested in neurobiological outcomes of psychotherapeutic drug treatment, including antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, stimulants, antiepileptics and anxiolytics and the impact of selected groups of compounds upon cellular and molecular processes modulating migration, differentiation, postnatal neurogenesis and myelination.

I am also interested in studying the impact of cancer chemotherapy on brain structure and function. Previous work has shown that chemotherapy, when applied at vulnerable stages of brain development, may cause neuronal death and may impair neurogenesis and gliogenesis. We will conduct basic research with my group on mechanisms of neurotoxicity and gliotoxicity of cancer chemotherapy using animal models and appropriate in vitro systems. We will explore impact of chemotherapies on neurogenesis, migration, myelination and angiogenesis in the developing brain and investigate whether there are ways to counteract their toxicity.

Representative Publications

Kaindl AM, Koppelstaetter A, Nebrich G, Stuwe J, Sifringer M, Klose J, Ikonomidou C (2008) Brief alteration of NMDA- or GABAA-receptor mediated neurotransmission has long-term effects on the developing cerebral cortex. Molecular & Cell Proteomics, 7(12):2293-310.

Stefovska V, Czuczwar M, Smitka M, Czuczwar P, Kis J, Kaindl AM, Turski L, Turski WA, Ikonomidou C. (2008) Sedative and anticonvulsant drugs suppress postnatal neurogenesis. Annals of Neurology, 64(4):434-45.

Kaindl AM, Nebrich G, Sifringer M, Wacker M, Felderhoff-Mueser U, Klose J, Ikonomidou C (2006) Acute and long-term proteome changes induced by oxidative stress in the developing brain. Cell Death and Differentiation, 13(7):1097-109.

Asimiadou S, Bittigau P, Felderhoff-Mueser U, Manthey D, Sifringer M, Pesditschek S, Dzietko M, Kaindl AM, Pytel M, Studniarczyk D, Mozrzymas JW, Ikonomidou C (2005) Protection with estradiol in developmental models of apoptotic neurodegeneration. Annals of Neurology, 58(2):266-276.

Rzeski W, Pruskil S, Macke A, Felderhoff-Mser U, Reiher AK, H?rster F, Jansma C, Jarosz B, Stefovska V, Bittigau P, Ikonomidou C (2004) Anticancer agents are potent neurotoxins in vitro and in vivo. Annals of Neurology, 56: 351-360

Olney JW, Jevtovic-Todorovic V, Ikonomidou C (2004) Do pediatric drugs cause developing neurons to commit suicide? Trends Pharmacological Sciences, 25(3): 135-139.

Bittigau P, Sifringer M, Genz K, Reith E, Pospischil D, Govindarajalu S, Dzietko M, Pesditschek S, Mai I, Dikranian, K, Olney JW, Ikonomidou C (2002) Antiepileptic drugs and apoptotic neurodegeneration in the developing brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 99 (23), 15089-15094.

Ikonomidou C, Bittigau P, Ishimaru MJ, Koch C, Genz K, Price MT, Stefovska V, H?rster F, Tenkova T, Dikranian K, Olney JW (2000) Ethanol-induced apoptotic neurodegeneration and fetal alcohol syndrome. Science, 287:1056-1060

Ikonomidou C, Bosch F, Miksa M, Bittigau P, V?ckler J, Dikranian K, Tenkova T, Stefovska V, Turski L, Olney JW (1999) Blockade of NMDA receptors and apoptotic neurodegeneration in the developing brain. Science, 283: 70-74.