Peptides used to protect stroke victims from brain damage

West Australian researchers have discovered a way to use peptides to protect stroke victims from brain damage, and say the breakthrough may reduce the risk of sustaining a serious disability from a stroke, especially for people living in remote Australia.

Professor David Blacker, the medical director of the West Australian Neuroscience Research Institute, said it was an important development in stroke research.

"In the rats that were given experimental peptides the volume of stroke damage was substantially smaller," he said.

"If we can apply that to human models, the hope would be that critical bits of the brain will be less affected."

The discovery is a big deal, especially for the 50,000 people who will have a stroke this year.

"It's devastating and there have been surveys that reveal older people will fear surviving a stroke with a substantial disability; they will fear that more than actually dying," Professor Blacker said.

Professor Blacker, who is also a neurologist at Perth's Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, said most researchers had given up trying to find such a treatment.

"At these stroke conferences just recently, people have been standing and applauding the speakers ... because we're so used to trials that have had no result or been negative," he said.

It is hoped that giving victims peptides within an hour of a stroke will buy them more time before brain damage starts.

"It's all well and good if you're in a major metro centre and you collapse in the middle of the day and get brought to a hospital where you've got the team that can do the techniques to remove the clot," Professor Blacker said.

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Peptides used to protect stroke victims from brain damage