A tetracycline derivative, minocycline, reduces inflammation and protects against focal cerebral ischemia with a wide therapeutic window.

ABSTRACT: The only treatment of patients with acute ischemic stroke is thrombolytic therapy, which benefits only a fraction of stroke patients. Both human and experimental studies indicate that ischemic stroke involves secondary inflammation that significantly contributes to the outcome after ischemic insult. Minocycline is a semisynthetic second-generation tetracycline that exerts antiinflammatory effects that are completely separate from its antimicrobial action. Because tetracycline treatment is clinically well tolerated, we investigated whether minocycline protects against focal brain ischemia with a wide therapeutic window. Using a rat model of transient middle cerebral artery occlusion, we show that daily treatment with minocycline reduces cortical infarction volume by 76 +/- 22% when the trea

SUBMITTER: Yrjanheikki J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC23976 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature