Healing the gut may be the key to improving long-term recovery in stroke patients, scientists at Texas A&M University have found.
A paper published this fall by researchers in the Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics at the Texas A&M College of Medicine is the latest of multiple studies highlighting the potential of this novel avenue of treatment, which takes advantage of the link between the brain and digestive system to curb cognitive impairment and other lingering impacts of a stroke or brain trauma.
The team demonstrated how a drug that was effective at protecting the brain in the immediate aftermath of a stroke failed to prevent long-term cognitive impairment when applied only to the brain. The same drug, when applied to the gut, reduced impairment significantly.
“Just fixing the brain directly won’t do it. As a neuroscientist, that was kind of shocking to me,” said Regents Professor and Department Head Dr. Farida Sohrabji. “But this tells us that if you don’t repair the gut, you won’t see (improvement in long-term function).”
The study, which appears in the November edition of Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, builds on previous research led by Sohrabji, spearheaded by graduate student Yumna El-Hakim and associate research scientist Dr. Kathiresh Kumar Mani, exploring how the brain and gut influence each other during and after a stroke. By understanding and leveraging the relationship between these systems, the team hopes to develop therapeutic techniques to prevent cognitive impairment in stroke patients and reduce their risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Their work is supported by a grant awarded to Sohrabji by the National Institutes of Health, as well as additional funding from the WoodNext Foundation.
“Stroke is one of the leading causes of dementia and AD,” Sohrabji said. “While there are acute, immediate consequences of stroke, there are also these long-term consequences that affect quality of life for the patient as well as the caregivers, so there’s a lot of interest in understanding how to improve long-term outcomes.”
What Happens In The Gut After A Stroke?
Within mere moments of a stroke, patients experience a cascade of symptoms, many of which are immediately apparent, Sohrabji said.
“You have individuals who can’t lift their arms, whose faces droop on one side, their speech is slurred,” she said. “That’s classic and occurs very, very quickly.”