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Scientists have developed a cure for the consequences of a stroke
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Specialists from the University of Southern California found that stem cells can help in the recovery of the brain after a stroke. As research has shown, the new method allows to successfully neutralize damage in the brain cells of rodents who have suffered a stroke.
As the biologists themselves noted, the discovery can make a breakthrough in medicine, and if the method works in a similar way in humans, then patients after a stroke, cerebral hemorrhage or other damage to the nervous tissue will return to their habitual way of life more quickly.
Berislav Zlokovich with his colleagues was the first who developed a new method of therapy for damage to the brain tissue. In the university's laboratory, specialists were able to find a way to help stem cells turn into full-length brain cells, in addition, they were able to move them to the injury site. Substance ZKZA-ARS, which was developed as an analog of protein C, which is one of the most important proteins of our body. Zlokovic and colleagues in the process of experiments with laboratory rodents found that protein C helps the immature cells of the nervous tissue to become full, which form the basis of our brain. The main problem for scientists was that the direct introduction into the brain of a patient after a stroke of protein C can lead to extremely adverse consequences, since the substance is a powerful anticoagulant. The team of scientists carried out a number of experiments before they could extract a version of the protein C-substance ZKZAA-APC, which does not affect blood coagulability.
After that, scientists checked whether the analogue can act on stem cells inside the body as well as protein C. To do this, they provoked a stroke in laboratory rodents and made them special injections with human stem cells and ZKZA-APC. Then the scientists observed the state of the mice for several months and compared the restoration process with changes in animals from the control group, into the brain of which only stem cells without ZKZA-APC were administered.
As a result, it was found that the rodents injected with the combined vaccine (stem cells and ZKZAA_ARS) were more likely to recover, they had faster brain tissue regeneration processes (the growth of new neurons and other components replacing the necrotic areas in the brain). To make sure that the new technique works, scientists destroyed new cells and as a result, the mice returned to a state in which they were immediately after a heart attack.
The success of the work has encouraged scientists and now they are preparing the second part of the study, in which ZKZA-ARS will be tested in larger animals. Also, experts intend to find out whether a new substance can suspend the death of neurons after the circulatory arrest.
Already, Zlokovich filed a petition for permission to conduct clinical trials with the participation of volunteers, experts are confident that the tests will be successful and the new drug will soon become available to all patients who have suffered a stroke.
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