Enhancing mtDNA Repair During Stroke Reperfusion to Reduce Brain Damage

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Attempts to develop drug treatments for acute stroke have not fulfilled expectations. Perhaps best illustrating this unsatisfactory situation is the hisory of therapeutic strategies directed at the inhibition of reactive oxygen species (ROS). While decades of laboratory and clinical studies make it clear that ROS are pathogenically important across the entire spectrum of cerebrovascular disease, as well as many other disorders, the beneficial effects of anti-oxidants inclinical trials for stroke have been unimpressive. These negative outcomes may be attributed in part to the heterogeneous nature of cerebral ischemia, which tends to obfuscate the design and interpretation of clinical trials. There also remains considerable scientific uncertainty about the molecular targets of anti-oxidant drug action. For example, non-selective antioxidants may disrupt signaling required for cell survival and recovery. The strategies currently available may not target the key sentinel