Deans' stroke musings: LSUSHC research identifies new experimental drug for stroke

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

LSUSHC research identifies new experimental drug for stroke

Too bad its patented.
http://www.lsusystem.edu/index.php/2012/03/01/lsushc-research-identifies-new-experimental-drug-for-stroke/
Research led by Nicolas Bazan, MD, PhD, Boyd Professor and Director of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has found that a synthetic molecule protected the brain in a model of experimental stroke. Dr. Bazan was issued a patent on the molecule called LAU-0901, a low molecular weight drug that crosses the blood-brain barrier. The findings are published in the March 2012 issue of Translational Stroke Research.

During an ischemic stroke, the most common kind, the body releases signals that cause neuroinflammation which leads to a buildup of chemicals that harm the brain. Platelet-activating factor (PAF) accumulates, and inhibition of this process plays a critical role in neuronal survival.

“LAU-0901 is able to reduce this incorrect signaling and inhibit the PAF receptor, which reduces multiple neuroinflammatory signals and greatly lessens the severity of damage in experimental stroke,” notes Dr. Bazan.

The research team used magnetic resonance imaging in conjunction with behavior and immunohistopathology to further study this novel therapeutic approach. The researchers report that LAU-0901, given two hours after the onset of experimental stroke, lessened the severity of brain damage, significantly reduced lesions in the brain, and improved coordination and movement. LAU-0901 produced no discernible side effects. These findings suggest LAU-0901 is a promising neuroprotectant that provides the basis for future therapeutics in patients suffering ischemic stroke.

Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Conventional therapies for ischemic stroke include thrombolytic therapy, prevention of inappropriate coagulation and thrombosis, and surgery to repair vascular abnormalities.Only one FDA-approved therapy exists for treatment of acute ischemic stroke, the thrombolytic tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), but only 5% of all ischemic stroke patients are eligible for treatment with tPA.

The research team also included Professor Ludmila Belayev and MD/PhD student Tiffany Niemoller Eady at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, as well as Dr. Julio Alvarez Builla and other scientists from the University of Alcala, Spain, and Dr. Andre Obenaus at the University of Loma Linda.