Dr. Cipolla's lab focuses on stroke and the effects of ischemia and reperfusion on the cerebral circulation. She uses a transient focal ischemia model in rats to induce variable periods of ischemia and reperfusion, after which the occluded and reperfused arteries are studied for both structural and functional alterations. One nice feature of this animal model of stroke is that cerebral artery structure and function can be correlated with measures of stroke outcome, including infarct volume, edema formation and neurologic deficit. Her primary interest, therefore, is how ischemia and reperfusion alter the structure and function of cerebral arteries in a way that promotes brain tissue damage. Understanding of cerebral artery damage during stroke may lead to more effective treatments.

The cerebral circulation is a unique vascular bed in that the large extracranial and intracranial pial arteries possess considerable tone and contribute significantly to total cerebrovascular resistance. Loss of tone and vascular resistance during ischemia and reperfusion is known to cause significant tissue damage, including infarction and edema. Dr. Cipolla's research is therefore focused on how ischemia and reperfusion affect the contractile properties of cerebral artery smooth muscle by specifically investigating ischemia-induced effects on the actin cytoskeleton and myogenic properties. She uses a combination of techniques including video microscopy to measure contractile properties of pressurized cerebral arteries, confocal microscopy to measure actin cytoskeletal rearrangements in vascular smooth muscle, edema measurements using specific gravity techniques and infarct volume analysis.

In addition, Dr. Cipolla is investigating the effects of several thrombolytic agents (tissue plasminogen activator and urokinase plasminogen activator) on smooth muscles structure and function since although these treatments have been shown to recanalize occluded arteries, they are also associated with significant hemorrhage and edema formation. Lastly, she is investigating the effect of ischemia and reperfusion on blood-brain barrier permeability and edema formation. The laboratory is interested in how the loss of myogenic tone and ischemia-induced actin rearrangements affect smooth muscle contractility in a way that promotes vascular permeability. These studies are done using a combination of the transient focal ischemia model and an in vitro preparation to measure the passage of fluorescently labeled compounds of various sizes and charges through the cerebrovascular wall.