(ZME Science) – Hypothermia is usually a medical emergency. But under the right conditions, controlled cooling can also be a way to protect the brain, including after a stroke.
Researchers have long wondered whether lowering body temperature could limit the damage caused by stroke. Now, a new study suggests that two decades-old medicines may help do this from the inside out.
The drugs, chlorpromazine and promethazine, can push the body into a cooler, slower-burning state that resembles hibernation. In mice and rhesus monkeys, the treatment reduced brain injury after stroke. In a small trial of 32 stroke patients, the highest dose appeared safe and, at the highest dose, produced a modest, short-lived drop in body temperature along with metabolic changes in blood tests. CONTINUE