Paralysis of about half of the body -- stroke usually leads to a permanent disability. However, a new development in medicine suggest that new treatment which could repair a stroke-injured brain, that is through neuron transplantation. Researchers tested the said stroke treatment on rats and had favorable results.
Stroke occurs when the blood flow in the brain is disrupted. It results to death of cells and part of the brain would not be able to functioning properly. Stroke is recorded as the most common cause of death in 2013 next to coronary artery disease. It accounts for about 12 percent of the total deaths worldwide. Half of the patients who had stroke died within one year.
In a study published in the journal Brain, researchers from Lund University in Sweden replaced the dead cells of stroke-injured rats with healthy cells. They used advanced techniques such as virus-based tracing techniques and electron microscopy. The results revealed that the brain had functioning connections while touching the paws of the rats.
"This is the first time anyone has been able to show such a result," Zaal Kokaia, a professor at the Stem Cell Centre according to Science Daily. He added that the new nerve cells have received signals from the host brain normally, which means, it has been successfully incorporated to the brain of the stroke-injured rats. "In it, they have been able to replace some of the dead nerve cells," he added.
Currently there is no method to restore brain functions of a patient after an hour passed following the stroke. Stroke treatments only include management and rehabilitation which help patients function in normal life by relearning everyday skills such as motor functions. However, this discovery opens a path on researchers about reversing stroke
Kokaia admitted that the said stroke treatment needs more research before it could be used in human patients. He added that they are not sure yet when they would be ready to do clinical trials on patients. But, their main objective is to develop a treatment that would be able to repair a stroke-injured brain.
