An international research team has demonstrated in the laboratory that nose drops containing a specific molecule (called C3a) are able to significantly improve and speed up recovery from a stroke. The drops should be administered one week after the attack. Hopes for millions of patients.
Scientists have come up with nasal drops able to improve e speed up il recovery from an ischemic stroke in laboratory tests. One of the most surprising aspects lies in the fact that these drops are not to be administered immediately, but one week later the stroke. This means they can be very effective for all of those as well patients who for various reasons are unable to reach the hospital immediately or who do not benefit significantly from two of the treatments of choice for this pathology, i.e. the therapy to dissolve the blood clots responsible for the stroke (the thrombolysis) and their mechanical removal, called trombectomia.
Nasal drops with a similar effectiveness are therefore potentially revolutionary and they could change a life millions of patients affected by stroke. Suffice it to know that, according to data from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), in Italy every year 200,000 people develop a stroke – 4 out of 5 of which are new patients -, while in the world there are about 10 million. Half of the patients develop motor deficitof the language, anxiety, depression and other conditions that bring down the quality of life. It is no coincidence that the stroke is there first cause of disability in the world and the third leading cause of death after cardiovascular disease and cancer. A treatment of this type can therefore truly represent a turning point in medicine, but also from a social and economic point of view.
The effectiveness of the nose drops was determined by an international research team led by Swedish scientists from the Department of Clinical Neurosciences of the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology at the Sahlgrenska Academy of the University of Gothenburg, who collaborated closely with the colleagues from the Medical Faculty of the University of Cologne and Cologne University Hospital, the Institute of Biotechnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research and other institutes. The scientists, coordinated by Professor Marcela Pekna, professor of neuroimmunology at the Swedish university, demonstrated the efficacy of the nasal drops in tests on mouse models (topi). Simply put, they treated one group of ischemic stroke-stricken mice with the drops and another group with a placebo; the former have obtained significant benefits in terms of recovery e speed of recovery of motor function compared to the latter. The results were confirmed in experiments conducted in multiple laboratories.
But how exactly do these nose drops work? First the active principle it’s a molecule call C3a complement peptide, an inflammation and immune response regulator involved in neurodevelopment, neural plasticity, and neurodegeneration. Through the MRI the researchers have observed that the administration of this molecule increases the formation of new connections in the brain of the treated mice. “Our results show that C3a peptide affects the function of astrocytes – that is, the cells that control many of the functions of nerve cells in both healthy and diseased brains – and what signals astrocytes send to nerve cells,” Professor Milos Pekny said in a press release, co-author of the study. The drops are given a week after the stroke because giving them too soon “could increase the amount of inflammatory cells in the brain,” experts explain.
“With this method, there’s no need to race against the clock. If the treatment is used in clinical practice, all stroke patients could receive it, even those who arrive at the hospital too late for thrombolysis or thrombectomy. Even those who have residual disability after the clot is removed could improve with this treatment,” Professor Pekna pointed out. Other positive elements include the permanence of the beneficial effects after discontinuation of the drug and the fact that, in the future, these drops could be self-administered by the patient or with the help of a relative, without the need for the assistance of an operator sanitary.
Of course, the fact that these drops work so well in mice does not automatically mean that they work in humans as well, so it will be necessary to move on to the clinical practice to prove it. For this step, as explained by the experts, the contribution of a pharmaceutical company that is interested in experimenting with the C3a peptide in nasal drops will be essential. The details of the research “Complement C3a treatment accelerates recovery after stroke via modulation of astrocyte reactivity and cortical connectivitywere published in The Journal of the Clinical Investigation (JCI).