Discovery Leads to Patent for Novel Method of Treating Traumatic Brain Injury (IMAGE)
Caption
A researcher in the School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, professor James Lechleiter, received a US patent (No. 8,618,074) Dec. 31 for his discovery that a class of compounds is protective against traumatic brain injury. The experimental test tissues pictured were obtained from a 60-year-old human patient who had undergone a temporal lobectomy to relieve epilepsy. Neurons are visible in red, astrocytes (caretaker cells) in green. The specimen on the right was placed in a solution containing 2-methylthio-ADP, one of a class of compounds called purinergic receptor ligands. The specimen on the left was placed in untreated solution. The specimens are shown five days after ischemic trauma that usually results in killing of neurons and astrocytes. 2-methylthio-ADP preserved many neurons and astrocytes in the treated specimen.
Credit
Dr. James Lechleiter/The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
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