| "If you don't understand
why something happens, you can't fix it. We believe that basic research
to understand brain cell death is the way to prevent stroke damage."
Dr. Michael Tymianski, Toronto Western Hospital
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Top young talent choosing stroke research
The Canadian Stroke Network is helping to attract
some of Canada's top young minds to stroke research.
Through its Focus on Stroke program, the CSN is supporting
45 university trainees from across Canada, in partnership
with the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Institute
of Circulatory and Respiratory Health, AstraZeneca,
and CIHR's Rx&D.
Celebrated as one of the country's leading training
and partnership initiatives, Focus on Stroke has led
to the development of a single application for research
funding – a substantial national improvement in
the review process.
"The benefits of being a CSN trainee are many,"
says Barbara Murdoch, a doctoral student in experimental
medicine at the University of British Columbia. "Receiving
scholarship funding for my doctoral studies not only
helps to build my confidence as a young researcher in
training, it allows me to devote more time to my research,
and to present my data at international conferences,
discussing its merits and weaknesses."
Ms. Murdoch is studying neurons in the olfactory system
to examine how they are continually replaced by dividing
stem cells. These preliminary studies lay the foundation
for the examination of the utility of olfactory neuronal
stem cells in the recovery from stroke.
"Through my training with the CSN, I anticipate
forming collaborative scientific efforts to forge ahead
in stroke research, with the ultimate hope of making
the lives of stroke survivors better. For me, being
a CSN trainee is a privilege that comes with the responsibility
of utilizing and contributing to its resources, so all
of us perform to our best. Obviously, being a CSN trainee
is of priceless value."
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A team of Canadian Stroke Network (CSN) researchers has discovered
a major and previously unreported mechanism behind brain cell death
in stroke.
The findings represent a huge shift in science's understanding
of why strokes kill brain cells, says CSN investigator Dr. Michael
Tymianski, a neurosurgeon at Toronto Western Hospital. In late 2003,
the findings were published in Cell, the world's leading
biological journal. Senior co-author on the paper was Dr. John
MacDonald of the University of Toronto.
"If you don't understand why something happens, you can't
fix it," Dr. Tymianski says. "We believe that basic research
to understand brain cell death is the way to prevent stroke damage."
The team's theory is that when a stroke occurs and brain
cells are deprived of oxygen, a special channel on the surface of
those cells is activated. When activated, this channel – called
TRPM7 – causes brain cells to produce large numbers of free
radicals. Free radicals are caustic chemicals that break down a
cell's DNA, proteins, and other components. Production of
the free radicals ignites a lethal chain reaction.
If a drug could be produced that would interrupt that process,
the impact of stroke could be significantly reduced.
Dr. Tymianski believes developing such a drug is possible, adding
that medicine already knows there is a window of time during which
therapies can be effective. It has already been shown that clot-busting
drugs, if administered within about three hours of a stroke, can
limit stroke damage.
Dr. Tymianski and colleagues have created a company, called NoNO
Inc., which will investigate the development of new therapies. NoNO,
which stands for no nitric oxide – the agent that mediates
cell damage – has received start-up funding from the Canadian
Stroke Network.
"The CSN has been instrumental in bringing top researchers
together to fight stroke," Dr. Tymianski says.
Other members of the CSN team studying brain cell death include
Dr. Yu Tian Wang (Brain Research Centre, University of British
Columbia); Dr. James Gurd (biochemistry researcher, University
of Toronto); Dr. Michael Salter (Canada Research Chair in Neuroplasticity
and Pain, University of Toronto); and Dr. Richard Tasker (Atlantic
Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island).
Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in Canada, claiming
about 16,000 lives each year. The Heart and Stroke Foundation estimates
that between 40,000 and 50,000 strokes occur each year in Canada
and about 300,000 Canadians are living with the effects of stroke.
www.canadianstrokenetwork.ca
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