The University of South Carolina (USC) has been awarded a $660,540 Project Grant under the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's (NHLBI) Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837). The grant, awarded on July 15, 2024, will support research on the role of kynurenic acid (KYNA) and tryptophan metabolism in maternal sleep disturbances and long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring.
The key objectives of the project are to: 1) define sleep problems during pregnancy associated with upregulated KYNA formation, and assess whether inhibiting the KYNA-synthesizing enzyme KAT II can improve maternal sleep quality; 2) investigate how elevated brain KYNA levels in offspring from dams fed a KYNA-enriched diet drive neurochemical imbalances, sleep deficits, and learning/cognitive impairments; and 3) evaluate whether interventions like choline supplementation or dual-orexin receptor antagonism can mitigate the adverse behavioral consequences of elevated prenatal KYNA exposure. The proposed research aims to advance the understanding of common molecular mechanisms linking neurodevelopmental insults, sleep disturbances, and neurocognitive impairments, with the goal of informing novel therapeutic approaches.
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