Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Birth asphyxia, or insufficient oxygen delivery to the organs during or around the time of birth, is a serious condition that causes significant mortality and long-term complications. Babies surviving moderate to severe birth asphyxia often suffer from permanent brain injuries leading to neurological impairments such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation, learning difficulties and blindness. These conditions put a large burden on affected individuals, their families and the society. Although birth asphyxia has been extensively studied, relatively few studies explored the impact of birth asphyxia on eyes and vision. Furthermore, eye examination is currently not part of standard monitoring of asphyxiated babies. This is surprising given that impaired vision is not uncommon among these babies and there are reports in the animal literature mentioning delayed eye-opening and abnormal changes in the retina of animals subject to perinatal asphyxia. Hence, the aims of my Master are: a) to study in detail how the different parts of the visual system (from the eyes to the brain) are affected by birth asphyxia, and b) to explore mechanisms by which these changes may occur. I will use a baby rat model of birth asphyxia, perform specific exams of the vision in these animals at different time-points and then study in detail their eyes and their brains. The proposed research will help us better understand how birth asphyxia might lead to the development of blindness or vision impairments. It may also provide clinically important information to determine what should be the standard monitoring for babies having suffered from birth asphyxia. Finally, the findings of the proposed project may give clues to help the development of timely and effective therapeutic strategies to prevent visual impairment in babies who suffered from birth asphyxia and ultimately improve their long-term outcome and the quality of their lives.