Blood transfusions can protect stroke patients from brain damage, studies in mice show

Research on mice suggests that blood transfusion may protect patients from brain damage after stroke.

Strokes, caused by inadequate blood supply reaching parts of the brain through either thrombus or ruptured blood vessels, often lead to long-term disability.

This condition is also one of the largest murderers in Britain. More than 100,000 strokes occur each year in the UK, killing about 38,000 people.

Researchers in the US have found that stroke-inducing mice had reduced symptoms after being infused with blood from a healthy companion.

The team believes that infusion helps lower post-stroke levels of proteins that can damage brain cells.

Blood substitution is an area of ​​increasing interest in medicine. COVID-19 (New Coronavirus Infection) (# If there is no character limit, add parentheses when first appearing And Parkinson’s disease..

Blood transfusions may protect patients from brain damage after stroke, studies suggest in mice (stock image).

“Acute stroke causes a complex pathological and systemic response that could not be treated with a single drug therapy,” says Sophie Wren, a neuroscientist at the University of West Virginia.

‘A new treatment strategy is proposed. There, blood replacement definitely reduces damage and improves neuropathy in mice. ‘

Among the side effects of stroke is the risk of the blood-brain barrier breaking down-allowing the plasma component of blood to damage brain cells-along with the adverse systemic reactions that can occur outside the brain.

In a study, Professor Ren and colleagues showed that blood replacement therapy could minimize this injury in 333 male mice injected with blood 7 hours after receiving an induced stroke. ..

This treatment worked by reducing the levels of protein matrix metalloproteinase-9 (abbreviated MMP-9) in the bloodstream of mice, along with inflammatory chemicals and immune cells. It may also provide oxygen and other neuroprotective factors.

In the healthy body, MMP-9 is involved in the destruction of the so-called “extracellular matrix,” which provides cells with structural and biochemical support.

This protein plays a role in normal body functions such as bone growth, embryogenesis, and wound healing, but it can also harm gray matter.

“It is known that blood levels of MMP-9 increase in mice (and humans) in the first few hours of a stroke,” Len explained.

Researchers found that blood infusion reduced the amount of dead tissue as a result of oxygen deprivation, but it also improved brain function.

In contrast, replacement therapy did not work when MMP-9 was artificially added to the infused blood — proving that protein removal was important.

In their study, Len and colleagues demonstrated that blood replacement therapy can minimize this injury in 333 male mice injected with blood seven hours after receiving an induced stroke. Done (stock image)

“These findings suggest that blood replacement fights inflammation by lowering blood and brain MMP-9 levels in post-stroke mice,” said Ren.

Our study is the first to show that therapy leads to very good results controlled via MMP-9. It provides new insights into the damage mechanism of stroke.

Although stroke still remains the leading cause of illness and death worldwide, treatment of current conditions tends to focus on surgical resection or drug destruction of blood clots, says Len. ..

However, these methods have limited time windows. In the clinical field of stroke, the mantra is “time is the brain.” Because damage evolves every minute,” said Ren.

“Currently, blood-based therapies are emerging as a treatment to combat aging and combat neurodegenerative diseases,” continued Professor Ren.

“The results of this study could represent a breakthrough in stroke treatment, as this innovative treatment strategy could reduce mortality in stroke patients and improve stroke outcomes.”

“These results can provide the basis for future use of blood replacement therapy in clinical trials to improve treatment of stroke.”

All research results were published in the journal Natural communication..