You'll have to read the complete article at the link, copyrighted.
http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-stroke-treatment-small-molecule-20120424,0,6344202.story
Though stroke is a major cause of long-term disability, the only
proven treatment for patients is to dissolve a clot or stop the bleeding
in the brain while the stroke is happening. Once it’s over, doctors and
therapists can only offer rehabilitation to minimize the damage. The
experimental drug being developed by scientists from Stanford University School of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College and UC San Francisco aims to change that.
The drug is designed to mimic
a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, which is
thought to help stimulate growth of new neurons and make the brain
“plastic,” or able to adapt to changes. BDNF works in cooperation with a
receptor in the brain called TrkB. So the scientists set out to find a
way to activate TrkB in hopes that doing so would mimic the action of
BDNF and promote actual healing in the brain.
The researchers
turned to a small molecule called LM22A-4 that – like BDNF – is known to
bind to TrkB. The compound was made by a company called Ricerca
Biosciences.
From another source:
The results are promising because the compound wasn’t administered to
the animals until a full three days after they had suffered strokes,
noted Buckwalter. As such, the treatment – if proven effective in humans
– could be particularly useful for patients who suffer strokes while
sleeping or don’t readily recognize the symptoms and don’t get to the
hospital fast enough for existing therapeutic agents to be administered.
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