Damage to the brain resulting from stroke, asphyxiation, strangulation, head injury and related events occur in a remarkable way. Much of the damage is delayed, occurring hours or days following the incident, leaving plenty of time for pharmacotherapeutic approaches to minimize damage. It is known that the delayed cell death is chemically induced, and that overexcitation of nerve cells by neurotransmitters leads to cell death. It is also known that peptides often control a nerve s sensitivity to neurotransmitters. Do peptides play a role in cell death by causing them to be highly sensitive to neurotransmitters? Could peptide-like drugs be used to lower a nerve s sensitivity? These questions are difficult to answer without advances in technology. Two major advances are proposed. In one, the sampling of peptides from the brain, now inefficient, will be improved. In another, separation/detection systems will be developed that will allow for rapid, sensitive and selective detection of peptides and their metabolites. These techniques will be applied in rat models of ischemia.
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