David Pitt, MD

Assistant Professor
Department of Neurology, Division of Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis
Department of Neuroscience

Degree: Phillips University Marburg, Germany
Residency: Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York
Postdoctoral Training: Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York
Clinical/research Fellowship: Washington University in St. Louis

Contact Information
790 Biomedical Research Tower
460 W. 12th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210
PHONE: (614) 292-0927
FAX: (614) 292-7544
E-MAIL: david.pitt@osumc.edu  


Link to NLM PubMed publications list for David Pitt (last 10 years)

Research Area:

Neuroimmunology, Neurodegeneration, and White Matter Injury

Current Research:

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease that manifests first as acute, reversible attacks and, in later stages, as progressive and irreversible disability. This laboratory focuses on the pathogenesis of chronic progression in MS. Recent data suggest that with chronicity in MS, microglia become diffusely activated throughout the entire brain. We investigate the impact of this activation on progressive axonal injury and cortical demyelination. In particular, the Pitt lab is interested in the roles of excitotoxicity and oxidative tissue damage in this process. For this, we use brain tissue from MS patients supplemented by experiments in animal models of white matter injury and in cell culture systems. We are also participating in projects defining and improving detection of cortical lesions by magnet resonance imaging.

Techniques:

• Mice: microstereotactic injections of brain/spinal cord white matter tracts,
  experimental autoimmune enceophalomyelitis (model of autoimmune demyelination)
  behavioral analysis
• Imaging: immunohistochemistry in human and murine tissue with state-of-the-art light, fluorescence and confocal microscopy; image analysis
• Cell culture (human, murine microglia)
• Molecular biology (Western blotting, PCR, in-situ hybridization, flow cytometry)