Using Src for stroke

While marketed clot busters address one of the primary components of stroke - the thrombus - no treatments are available for ischemia-induced brain damage, the other main component of stroke. Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute last week published in Nature Medicine the use of a Src kinase inhibitor that protected ischemic mice from brain damage, thereby opening up a new mechanism by which this second component may be addressed.

The researchers showed that knockout mice lacking the Src gene product did not experience VEGF-mediated vascular permeability (leaky blood vessels that cause edema in the brain) following a stroke. Also, wild-type mice given a Src kinase inhibitor up to six hours after stroke had reduced edema and improved cerebral perfusion and infarct size...