Clinical Trials with Drugs Targeting Ionic Channels, Antiporters, and Pumps in Ischemic Stroke

Ischemic brain damage represents a major source of morbidity and mortality in westernized society and poses a significant financial burden on the health care system. To date, few effective therapies have been realized to treat stroke and promising avenues have not proven clinically useful. Recent evidence, however, suggests that channels, pumps, and ionic exchangers are involved in CNS ischemia and ischemic stroke, but the potential contribution of these channels for curing stroke is far less understood than for many other normal and pathological conditions. New Strategies in Stroke Intervention: Ionic Channels, Pumps, and Transporters analyzes the roles played by targets in stroke development and the potential action of drugs modulating these proteins. This book provides a groundbreaking review of these ionic channels, pumps, and transporters as regulators of neuronal ionic homeostasis, providing a better understanding of ischemic brain disorders and the new pharmacological avenues for a cure. It will be a useful tool for researchers working in this field, and any student interested in the physiological, pathophysiological, and pharmacological features of stroke damage

Alcohol increases spontaneous BOLD signal fluctuations in the visual network

Brain activity during resting wakefulness is characterized by slow (<0.1Hz) fluctuations of blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signals that are topographically organized in discrete functional connectivity networks (resting-state networks, RSNs). The present study aimed at revealing possible network-specific alcohol-induced changes in resting-state fMRI (RS-fMRI) signals. RS-fMRI was carried out on eight healthy subjects in four consecutive 6-min sessions, one before and three after a 0.7g/kg dose of ethyl alcohol. Control experiments were carried out in different days without alcohol administration. Independent component analysis (ICA) was performed on all experimental and control scans to extract individual and group-level RSN maps in a dynamic network analysis. Alcohol administration significantly increased the overall strength of the visual network ICA component, reaching the peak at 90min. Within the visual network, the alcohol-induced increase was more pronounced in the primary regions of the occipital cortex and less pronounced in the secondary regions of the occipito-temporal cortex. Other major RSN components, such as the default-mode, the fronto-parietal, the sensori-motor, the self-referential and the auditory components, did not exhibit alcohol-induced changes during the same time window. Alcohol-induced effects on the resting-state functional connectivity of the visual network observed in the present study demonstrate that the visual system is a selective and primary target of acute alcohol administration. The strong enhancement of spontaneous BOLD fluctuations in the primary visual cortex in an acute alcoholic state may impair the normal activation response to visual stimuli and affect visual perception

The Na+/Ca2+ Exchanger: A Target for Therapeutic Intervention in Cerebral Ischemia

Full color throughout Ischemic brain damage represents a major source of morbidity and mortality in westernized society and poses a significant financial burden on the health care system. To date, few effective therapies have been realized to treat stroke and promising avenues have not proven clinically useful. Recent evidence, however, suggests that channels, pumps, and ionic exchangers are involved in CNS ischemia and ischemic stroke, but the potential contribution of these channels for curing stroke is far less understood than for many other normal and pathological conditions. New Strategies in Stroke Intervention: Ionic Channels, Pumps, and Transporters analyzes the roles played by targets in stroke development and the potential action of drugs modulating these proteins. This book provides a groundbreaking review of these ionic channels, pumps, and transporters as regulators of neuronal ionic homeostasis, providing a better understanding of ischemic brain disorders and the new pharmacological avenues for a cure. It will be a useful tool for researchers working in this field, and any student interested in the physiological, pathophysiological, and pharmacological features of stroke damage