Neuroprotective agents for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke.
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.
Ovbiagele
Bruce
B
Stroke Center and Department of Neurology, University of California at Los Angeles, 710 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. Ovibes@mednet.ucla.edu
Kidwell
Chelsea S
CS
Starkman
Sidney
S
Saver
Jeffrey L
JL
D000818:Animals; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018755:GABA Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000187:drug effects; D009292:Narcotic Antagonists; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000502:physiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology
D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers; D018755:GABA Agonists; D007473:Ion Channels; D009292:Narcotic Antagonists; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D009569:Nitric Oxide