Chemical Can Induce Nerve Growth after Stroke

The results of anatomical studies correlated with functional results. Inosine showed the ability to increase the capacity of nerve cells to make new connections to those brain areas that had lost their normal inputs because of a stroke. The inosine-stimulated increases were three to four times higher than in the rats not receiving inosine. There were no apparent side effects.

"The study shows that inosine induces a great deal of rewiring in the brain after stroke,” said Dr. Larry Denowitz, principal investigator and head of the laboratory at Children's Hospital (Boston, MA, USA; www.tch.harvard.edu), where much of the study was conducted. "This rewiring is apparently sufficient to promote substantial functional recovery.”

Inosine is being developed for the treatment of stroke and other central nervous system injuries by Boston Life Sciences, Inc. (BLSI, MA, USA). "Stroke has been a poorly understood and inadequately treated area of medicine,” said Dr. Marc Lanser, M.D., chief scientific officer of BLSI. "These data offer great hope that we may finally see a breakthrough in treatment that can repair the damage by stroke.”




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