Nutrition-based interventions to ameliorate pain in sickle cell disease

The project is structured into K99 and R00 phases. K99-SA#1 (Years 1-2) involves using PET neuroimaging and spatial transcriptomics to evaluate the effect of SD-intervention on functional anandamide (AEA) and dopamine (DA) activity in the brain and sensory hypersensitivity of sickle mice. Milestone 1 is to stratify cell type distribution in SCD DIPP with nutritional enrichment intervention. R00-SA#2 (Years 3-5) will determine the effects of dietary enrichment on offspring DIPP function and gene expression, with Milestone 2 being to establish a mouse breeding colony for independent studies. R00-SA#3 (Years 3-5) will determine the teratogenicity of perinatal cannabinoid exposure in SCD offspring mice, with Milestone 3 being to determine associations between cannabinoid exposure and adverse outcomes and establish collaboration for epigenomic evaluation.