Accumulating evidence suggests that oxidative DNA damage plays a critical role in cell death associated with ischemic stroke. Endogenous oxidative DNA damage can be detected in the ischemic brain during the stages that precedes the manifestation of cell death and is believed to trigger cell death via various intracellular signaling pathways. Inhibiting the signaling associated with DNA damage i...

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation is an effective treatment for neonatal hypoxic-ischemic brain damage. However, the in vivo transplantation effects are poor and their survival, colonization and differentiation efficiencies are relatively low. Red or near-infrared light from 600-1,000 nm promotes cellular migration and prevents apoptosis. Thus, we hypothesized that the combinati...

Hypoxic/ischemic brain damage is well-known catastrophic injury. The specific treatment, socalled neuroprotective therapy, aims to prevent or diminish this havoc damage. However, approved neuroprotective therapy in clinical practice is limited. Targeted temperature management (TTM) shows the most promising neuroprotective therapy. Moreover, TTM is also useful for intracranial pressure (ICP) con...

Ischemic brain injury involves a complex sequence of excitetoxic and oxidative events. Metformin is proposed as one of the potential candidates for returning the body to its basic homeostasis in ischemic situations. Metformin can either protect or damage cells by activating AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and its downstream factors so, it has a dual role in the cerebral ischemia context, bu...

Objective: To report results of a randomized pilot clinical feasibility trial of endovascular cooling in patients with ischemic stroke. Methods: Forty patients with ischemic stroke presenting within 12 hours of symptom onset were enrolled in the study. An endovascular cooling device was inserted into the inferior vena cava of those randomized to hypothermia. A core body temperature of 33 °C was...

#### Notable in Neurology This Week This issue features an article that investigates the association of depression and anxiety with cognitive impairment patients 6 months after stroke; another explores utility olfactory testing screening for Parkinson disease REM behavior disorder. A featured Views & Reviews examines CSF blood neurofilament levels neuronal brain damage athletes who play physic...

The cytokine interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) contributes to ischemic, excitotoxic, and traumatic brain injury. IL-1beta actions depend on interaction with a single receptor (IL-1RI), which associates with an accessory protein (IL-1RAcP), and is blocked by IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra). Here we show that in normal mice [wild-type (WT)], intracerebroventricular injection of IL-1ra markedly reduc...

Oxygen free radicals or oxidants that arise from molecular oxygen by successive single-electron reduction reactions, include the superoxide anion (O2), the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and hydroxyl radicals (·OH) (Chan 1996). Physiological levels of free radicals are needed for redox sensitive signal pathways, cell development and cell apoptosis (Chan 2001). During brain ischemia/reperfusion (I/R)...

Brain injury after focal cerebral ischemia, the most common cause of stroke, develops from a series of pathological processes, including excitotoxicity, inflammation, and apoptosis. While NMDA receptors have been implicated in excitotoxicity, attempts to prevent ischemic brain damage by blocking NMDA receptors have been disappointing. Disruption of neuroprotective pathways may be another avenue...

Neural stem/progenitor cell (NSC) transplantation has been shown to effectively improve neurological function in rats with hypoxic-ischemic brain damage. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a signaling protein that stimulates angiogenesis and improves neural regeneration. We hypothesized that transplantation of VEGF-transfected NSCs would alleviate hypoxic-ischemic brain damage in neon...