Author: Adance for Speech-Language Pathologists & Audiologists

An experimental treatment that spares disability from acute stroke may be delivered much later than the current three-hour treatment standard. This potential advance is needed to benefit more patients.

Researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) found that human umbilical cord blood cells administered to rats two days following a stroke greatly curbed the inflammatory response of the brain, reducing the size of the stroke and resulting in greatly improved recovery. The inflammatory response to injury from stroke peaked 48 hours after the brain attack, which was when intravenous delivery of the cells appeared most beneficial.

“We were very surprised,” said principal investigator Alison Willing, PhD, a neuroscientist at the USF Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair. “In some animals the stroke initially damaged half the brain, but they were functioning normally after treatment with the cord blood cells. These findings show we are able to rescue neurons at a time when most research suggests they are already dead.”

Dr. Willing presented the preliminary findings at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience on Nov. 12 in Washington, DC.

The only drug currently approved for ischemic stroke treatment is tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), which breaks up blood clots. However, tPA must be given within three hours following a stroke to be effective, and few patients arrive at the hospital quickly enough to receive it. Even when patients meet this criteria, smaller hospitals often lack ready access to computed tomography (CT), which can rule out a hemorrhagic stroke. The drug can worsen this less common type of stroke.

“New and more flexible treatments are needed to help more patients,” Dr. Willing said. “Cord blood treatment in rats is successful in alleviating, even eliminating, the disabling effects of both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. What’s more, the treatment can be delivered much later than the current therapeutic window.”
The USF study challenges the notion that nerve cells inevitably die quickly in the core region of the brain most severely deprived of oxygen and nutrients during stroke. The researchers suggest that many succumb over several days through apoptosis.

“This delayed death would permit more time to deliver neuron-sparing treatments than originally thought,” Dr. Willing said. Vol. 15 •Issue 47 • Page 5

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