Led by Louisiana State University neurologist Dr. Nicolas Bazan, a team of researchers from several institutions has claimed a potential breakthrough in drug treatment to prevent long-term brain damage in those who suffer certain strokes. Bazan directed a study that, using laboratory rats, administered aspirin and an omega-3 essential fatty acid to yield a new protective molecule that can mitigate damage to cells around the area of an ischemic stroke. Ischemic stroke occurs when an arterial blockage denies oxygenated blood to parts of the brain, as opposed to hemorrhagic stroke, which occurs when a vessel bursts inside the brain.
The results, Bazan said, portend a “novel approach for pharmaceutical intervention.”
Stroke is the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States and the leading cause of newly acquired disability in adulthood. Bazan presented his findings Thursday at the International Stroke Conference, which concludes Friday at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.
The study, which was financed by a National Institutes of Health grant, was designed to analyze benefits of neuroprotective agents — long a focus of Bazan’s career — that can help prevent irreversible damage in the stroke-affected area. There is considerable research interest internationally in neuroprotectors as an additional therapy beyond the more developed, widely used thrombolytic therapy or drugs that break up and dissolve the clot itself.
Bazan’s study relied in part on his previous research on the role of omega-3 essential fatty acids in neuroprotection. In the latest discovery, Bazan said the team discovered that aspirin and the omega-3 acid DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) yield in the brain a neuroprotective molecule. Bazan said the synthesis results from how aspirin, a common anti-inflammatory agent, acts on a certain enzyme protein that he described as “evil and angel” in brain chemistry.
In the study with rats, Bazan’s team chemically generated that new molecule outside of the brain. Then, the animal subjects were anesthetized and induced with a middle cerebral artery blockage for two hours. In humans, the middle cerebral artery is the largest artery in the brain and the most commonly affected by stroke. Because it affects such a large portion of the brain, MCA stroke can affect many physical abilities and cognitive functions.
The research team treated two groups of rats with the synthetic molecules one hour after the stroke period ended. One group got a sodium salt form of the treatment, the second a methyl-ester form. A third control group received saline.
The rats who received the neuroprotector treatment displayed significantly less damage than the saline group, ranging from 44 percent to 81 percent fewer lesions in various parts of the brain. They also demonstrated lower water volume, a sign of less damage following ischemic stroke. In both measures, the methyl-ether results outpaced sodium salt results.
In other research presented Thursday:
A review of 3,750 cases of stroke survivors at U.S. Department of Veterans Health Affairs facilities suggests that anemia makes a person three times more likely to die in the wake of an initial ischemic stroke. Anemia is a dearth of healthy red blood cells. In the cases that researchers reviewed, patients with severe anemia were 3.5 times more likely to die while still in the hospital and 2.5 times more likely to die within a year of a first stroke. Moderate anemia sufferers were twice as likely to die with six to 12 months, and those with mild anemia were about 1.5 times as likely to die within the same period. The findings are consistent with similar studies that focused on patients who had suffered heart attacks, heart failure and kidney failure. Spanish researchers concluded that stroke victims who led physically active lives before their cerebral events are more likely to recover lost motor skills. The study found that physically active individuals had smaller portions of their brains affected by similar strokes and recovered blood flow to the affected areas more quickly upon treatment with clot-busting drugs.
Bill Barrow can be reached at bbarrow@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3452.
Continued here:
Drug treatment may be a stroke breakthrough