People – Damian McLeod

Dr. Damian D. McLeod’s doctorate work focused on the neural control of the airway circulation during exercise. His postdoctoral career began in the stroke research field in Professor Neil Spratt’s Translational Stroke Research laboratory at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Here, the team unlocked some of the key pathophysiological mechanisms underlying ischaemic stroke (blockage of an artery in the brain). The team demonstrated in experimental ischaemic stroke models that the pressure within the cranium (intracranial pressure) rises to dangerously elevated levels, which not only occurs in large strokes, but also in very small strokes. Cooling the brain by only a few degrees prevented this intracranial pressure elevation. Another major finding involved the natural bypass vessels within the brain. Once a major artery is blocked in the brain, blood flow to the dying brain tissue is maintained by these endogenous bypass vascular pathways, which are also know as collateral blood vessels. As the intracranial pressure rises after ischaemic stroke, blood flow via the collateral vessels dramatically reduces, which is the current hypothesis for infarct progression, i.e. why increasing volumes of brain tissue die over time following the initial stroke event.

Dr. McLeod’s current research project is entitled, ‘Investigating cerebrospinal fluid drainage and elevated intracranial pressure post-stroke‘.