One of the reasons why strokes are so devastating is that brain tissue does not exhibit the same healing mechanisms as other tissues that repair themselves quickly. Integrin proteins are responsible for some of the healing processes, including getting new cells to move and having them adhere to the extracellular matrix, and these are not strongly present within damaged brain tissue. In order to get the brain to heal itself better than on its own, a team led by UCLA scientists has come up with a material that is similar to the extracellular matrix and that promotes the activity of integrin to heal nearby tissues.
The hydrogel-based material, which has already been successfully tried in post-stroke mice, features vascular endothelial growth factor and a molecule that promotes α3/α5β1 integrin binding, which the researchers have shown leads to much stronger and less leaky blood vessels than a molecule that promotes αvβ3 integrin binding.
The studied mice demonstrated considerable repair of their brain tissues following a stroke, which bodes well that humans will also react similarly to this new approach to stroke care. Hopefully clinical trials will soon be underway to validate the new technology.
Study in Nature Materials: Hydrogels with precisely controlled integrin activation dictate vascular patterning and permeability…
Via: UCLA…