Neuroprotective agents for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke

Bruce Ovbiagele; Chelsea S Kidwell; Sidney Starkman; Jeffrey L Saver

doi:10.1007/s11910-003-0031-z

Neuroprotective agents for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke

Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep. 2003 Jan;3(1):9-20. doi: 10.1007/s11910-003-0031-z.

Authors

Bruce Ovbiagele¹, Chelsea S Kidwell, Sidney Starkman, Jeffrey L Saver

Affiliation

¹ Stroke Center and Department of Neurology, University of California at Los Angeles, 710 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. Ovibes@mednet.ucla.edu

PMID: 12507405
DOI: 10.1007/s11910-003-0031-z

Abstract

Neuroprotective treatments are therapies designed to interrupt the cellular, biochemical, and metabolic elaboration of injury during or following exposure to ischemia; they encompass a rapidly expanding array of pharmacologic interventions. Various classes of neuroprotective agents have reached phase III efficacy trials in focal ischemic stroke, but none has proven effective, despite successful preceding animal studies. This notwithstanding, recent favorable results of hypothermia in human cardiac arrest trials have validated the general concept of neuroprotection. In addition, the promise of neuroprotective therapy for focal acute ischemic stroke has been renewed by innovations in strategies of preclinical drug development and clinical trial design that rectify past defects, including trial testing of combination therapies rather than single agents and novel approaches to accelerating time to initiation of experimental treatment.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Anti-Inflammatory Agents / pharmacology
Anti-Inflammatory Agents / therapeutic use
Apoptosis / drug effects
Brain Ischemia / drug therapy*
Brain Ischemia / metabolism
Brain Ischemia / pathology
Calcium Channel Blockers / pharmacology
Calcium Channel Blockers / therapeutic use
Clinical Trials as Topic
Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / pharmacology
Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / therapeutic use
Free Radical Scavengers / pharmacology
Free Radical Scavengers / therapeutic use
GABA Agonists / pharmacology
GABA Agonists / therapeutic use
Humans
Ion Channels / drug effects
Narcotic Antagonists
Nerve Growth Factors / pharmacology
Nerve Growth Factors / therapeutic use
Neuroprotective Agents / pharmacology
Neuroprotective Agents / therapeutic use*
Nitric Oxide / physiology
Stroke / drug therapy*
Stroke / metabolism
Stroke / pathology

Substances

Anti-Inflammatory Agents
Calcium Channel Blockers
Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists
Free Radical Scavengers
GABA Agonists
Ion Channels
Narcotic Antagonists
Nerve Growth Factors
Neuroprotective Agents
Nitric Oxide