Deprogramming stroke

Canadian researchers have taken an entirely new tack on preventing neurotoxicity in acute ischemic stroke by targeting a pathway previously linked to cholesterol metabolism.¹ The University of British Columbia team suggests that a set of proteins that monitors cholesterol levels in the liver plays a completely different role in the brain-relaying a proapoptotic signal triggered by excessive glutamate, a key feature of ischemic stroke.

In ischemic stroke, blockage of cerebral arteries by blood clots leads to oxygen deprivation and triggers neuronal hyperstimulation by glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter that is released by oxygen-starved cells. Although lack of oxygen can cause rapid cell death near the site of ischemia, glutamate can also spread to nearby areas and cause apoptosis in otherwise well-oxygenated cells...