Despite stroke being one of the biggest killers in economically developed countries, there are currently few options for the consequences of stroke.
One of the most severe consequences of stroke is neuronal death, which is caused by a lack of oxygen during the arterial blockade and the inflammation that follows the restoration of blood flow.
The damage caused by this, is responsible for much of the long-term health issues experienced by stroke survivors.
Now, a research team at the CNIC have demonstrated in a rat model that treatment using metoprolol protects the brain during a stroke and greatly reduces the severity of it’s long-term consequences.
The rats that received intravenous metoprolol during a stroke showed to have less cerebral inflammation and neuronal death and overall better long-term improvement in neuromotor capacities.
Dr Borja Ibáñez, leader of the study says: “This animal study beats the path to clinical trials of the utility of metoprolol in patients with ischemic stroke, a treatment that could reduce neurological deficit in stroke survivors and associated health care costs.”
He adds that the repurposing of old drugs to treat new diseases “is one of the most beneficial lines of research for health systems and for patients.”
Dr Ibáñez’s group have over ten years of experience investigating the properties of metoprolol, which is a beta-blocker that has been used to treat hypertension and arrhythmias for more than 40 years.
The idea for using metoprolol for stroke came when they were using it for heart attacks.
They discovered that it protects the heart during an infarction by inhibiting the exacerbated inflammatory response which is triggered by immune cells known as neutrophils.
Dr Ibáñez says: “When we discovered this mechanism of action, we thought it might also apply to other conditions in which neutrophil hyperactivation plays an important role.”
Study co-first author Eduardo Oliver highlights how testing metoprolol on stroke has been a long-term goal for the team: “Testing the possible benefit of metoprolol in stroke was a goal we had been pursuing for some time, since neuroinflammation is known to play a central role in stroke-related injury.”
