Researchers have partially mitigated the effects of an ischemic stroke in mice simply by replacing a small amount of their blood with that of a healthy donor. Days after receiving the transplant, mice had less tissue damage surrounding the clot and suffered fewer neurological side effects compared to mice that had not received a blood infusion.
The results, published August 25 in Nature Communications, highlight the link between strokes in the brain and the immune system. At least some of the damage caused by strokes, the authors say, is the result of an overreactive immune response during which cells sent to an injury to fight infection and facilitate repair instead harm sensitive brain tissue.
“The initial impetus for the study was to determine the extent to which this immune response, which we know is very rapid and very profound, contributes to brain damage from stroke,” James Simpkins, a neuroscientist at ...
