Source: newatlas.com | Repost Duerson Fund 10/17/1022 –
A new study has shed light on how an experimental drug can reverse some of the neural damage associated with traumatic brain injury. The findings lay the groundwork for a future drug that could potentially prevent the cognitive deficits that follow on from concussion.
The findings come from a team of researchers at the University of California, San Francisco investigating a signaling pathway called the integrated stress response (ISR). This is a general cellular mechanism that is triggered in the presence of environmental stresses and often leads to a shutdown in the protein production facilities within cells.
The research initially began by focusing on finding drugs that can block the ISR in the brain as a way of treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. One drug, dubbed ISRIB (ISR Inhibitor), has proved successful in improving cognition across several animal models of brain diseases, so the researchers set out to explore whether the drug had the same beneficial effects when treating more acute types of brain injury.