After Stroke, Blood Pressure-Lowering Drugs Aid Recovery

After Stroke, Blood Pressure-Lowering Drugs Aid Recovery
Monday, October 24, 2011

Medical News Today

A commonly prescribed blood pressure-lowering medication appears to kick-start recovery in the unaffected brain hemisphere after a stroke by boosting blood vessel growth, a new University of Georgia study has found.

The discovery, based on a study using rats and published recently in the online journal PLoS ONE, occurred only because the team, led by Susan Fagan, professor of clinical and administrative pharmacy at the UGA College of Pharmacy, struck a new path in stroke research by examining the healthy side of brain after the stroke occurred.

"I'm very excited because I think we can harness the restorative properties of the contralesional hemisphere—the other side of the brain—with drug therapies," Fagan said. "When most researchers study stroke they compare the animal's side of the brain that's damaged to the opposite side, assuming that that side is normal or not affected."