Acute minocycline treatment inhibits microglia activation, reduces infarct volume, and has domain-specific effects on post-ischemic stroke cognition in rats.

Ischemic stroke affects millions of individuals worldwide and a high prevalence of survivors experience cognitive deficits. At present, the underlying mechanisms that drive post-stroke cognitive decline are not well understood. Microglia play a critical role in the post-stroke inflammatory response, but experimental studies show that an accumulation of chronically activated microglia can be harmful and associates with cognitive impairment. This study assessed the effect of acute post-stroke minocycline treatment on chronic microglia and astrocyte expression within the infarct and remote white matter regions, as well as its effect on various domains of cognitive function post-stroke. Nine-month-old male rats received an injection of endothelin-1 into the right dorsal striatum to induce transient focal ischemia, and then were treated with minocycline or saline for 4 days post-stroke. Rats were tested using a series of lever-pressing tasks and the Morris water maze to assess striatal-based learning, cognitive flexibility, and spatial learning and reference memory. We found that minocycline-treated rats had smaller stroke-induced infarcts and less microglia activation in the infarct area and remote white matter regions compared to saline-treated rats at 28 days post-stroke. The behavioural testing results differed according to the cognitive domain; whereas minocycline-treated rats trended towards improved striatal-based learning in a lever-pressing task, but cognitive flexibility was unaffected during the subsequent set-shifting task. Furthermore, minocycline treatment unexpectedly impaired spatial learning, yet it did not alter reference memory. Collectively, we show that post-stroke minocycline treatment can reduce chronic microglia activation even in remote brain regions, with domain-specific effects on cognitive function.

Trombolisis intravenosa con rtPA en el Stroke Isquémico Agudo. Eficacia y seguridad del programa instalado en el Hospital Universitario de la Fundación Favaloro / Intravenous thrombolysis with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator in the acute ischemic stroke

The study of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) proved that the use of the recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) within the first 3 hours since the beginning of the symptomatology of the acute ischemis stroke (AIS) is as well safe as effective...These preliminary data reported in our study show that a strict protocol of thrombolysis IV with rtPA in AIS is feasible to be carried on with good results in a high complexity Center.