News Release

Antibiotic may be new stroke treatment

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BMC (BioMed Central)

The antibiotic minocycline may revolutionize the treatment of strokes. A new study, published in the open access journal BMC Neuroscience, describes the safety and therapeutic efficacy of the drug in animal models.

Dr. Cesar V. Borlongan from the University of South Florida, USA worked with a team of researchers to test the treatment in laboratory experiments. He said, "To date, the thrombolytic agent tPA is the only effective drug for acute ischemic stroke; however, only about 2% of ischemic stroke patients benefit from this treatment due to its limited therapeutic window. There is a desperate need to develop additional neuroprotective strategies. This research is an important step in rectifying the treatment issues, presenting a new, more effective treatment for stroke patients".

Every 5 minutes someone in the UK has a stroke and stroke currently accounts for almost 10% of deaths worldwide, claiming more lives than HIV/AIDS. During a stroke, a clot prevents blood flow to parts of the brain, which can have wide ranging short-term and long-term implications. This study recorded the effect of intravenous minocycline in both isolated neurons and animal models after a stroke had been experimentally induced. At low doses it was found to have a neuroprotective effect on neurons by reducing apoptosis of neuronal cells and ameliorating behavioral deficits caused by stroke.

According to Dr. Borlongan, "The safety and therapeutic efficacy of low dose minocycline and its robust neuroprotective effects during acute ischemic stroke make it an appealing drug candidate for stroke therapy. An on-going phase 1 clinical study funded by the National Institutes of Health is exploring the use of intravenous minocycline to treat acute ischemic stroke".

###

Media Contact
Graeme Baldwin
Press Office, BioMed Central
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3192 2165
Mob: +44 (0) 7825 706422
Email: graeme.baldwin@biomedcentral.com

Notes to Editors

1. Therapeutic targets and limits of minocycline neuroprotection in experimental ischemic stroke
Noriyuki Matsukawa, Takao Yasuhara, Koichi Hara, Lin Xu, Mina Maki, Guolong Yu, Yuji Kaneko, Kosei Ojika, David C Hess and Cesar V Borlongan
BMC Neuroscience (in press)

During embargo, article available here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/imedia/1290747485257313_article.pdf?random=892851

After the embargo, article available at journal website: http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcneurosci/

Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.

Article citation and URL available on request at press@biomedcentral.com on the day of publication

2. BMC Neuroscience is an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles in all aspects of the nervous system, including molecular, cellular, developmental and animal model studies, as well as cognitive and behavioral research, and computational modeling. BMC Neuroscience (ISSN 1471-2202) is indexed/tracked/covered by PubMed, MEDLINE, BIOSIS, CAS, Scopus, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Thomson Reuters (ISI) and Google Scholar.

3. BioMed Central (www.biomedcentral.com) is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.


Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.