by Wayne Lewis – Keck school of Medicine USC –
When someone has a stroke — a leading worldwide cause of death and disability — time is of the essence. Almost nine out of 10 cases are ischemic strokes, caused by restricted blood flow in the brain, and the current gold-standard treatment that breaks up blood clots must be delivered within four and a half hours of symptoms appearing.
Researchers are on the hunt for ways to extend that ticking clock and enable better stroke recovery. One promising prospect is an experimental stem cell therapy to help repair damaged brain tissue, co-developed by scientists at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich in Switzerland. A study in the journal Nature Communications showed that a stem cell transplant performed one week after an ischemic stroke in mice led to recovery.
