Characterization of the Response of TRPV4 to Chemical Stimulation

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a source of acute and chronic health issues for many patients. One of the components of the brain’s response to injury is astrogliosis, in which astrocytes that normally function to repair the brain instead form scar tissue that halts repair processes. Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid Type 4 (TRPV4) is a trans-membrane calcium channel involved in astrogliosis. Through Fura-2AM based calcium imaging, the base activity of this channel in mouse astrocyte cells was recorded. The cells were then subjected to TRPV4 agonist and antagonist stimulation and their subsequent activity levels were recorded. The data showed that increasing agonist levels garnered higher TRPV4 activity and increasing antagonist levels suppressed TRPV4 activity, though to a lesser extent. With further characterization of the exact nature of TRPV4’s role in TBI response, potential treatment plans for TBI could be developed