Lab notes
Check out recent research developments at UF Health
Preventing brain damage after stroke
A drug used to treat pulmonary hypertension now shows promise in an animal model for protecting against brain damage and neurological impairment following a stroke. A research team from the Evelyn F. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Florida found the drug selexipag, which is used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension, yielded marked improvement in neurological function following ischemic stroke in a study of aged rats. In the study, treatment at 48 hours post-stroke and 21 days post-stroke showed a significant drop in inflammation and injury in the brain.
Understanding congenital myotonic dystrophy
UF Health genetics researchers have helped identify the mechanism that causes congenital myotonic dystrophy and have developed mouse models that will allow drug therapies to be tested. Researchers now have a better understanding of how the misregulation of developmental genetic “switches” in unborn children gives rise to congenital myotonic dystrophy. In addition to severe muscle weakness, congenital myotonic dystrophy patients can have respiratory problems and intellectual deficits.
Fighting chronic fatigue
A UF Health study raised a possible explanation for chronic fatigue. Researchers injected 58 people diagnosed with chronic fatigue with either a placebo saline solution or the painkiller lidocaine. The group who received the lidocaine reported a 38 percent drop in fatigue. The drug appeared to block the signaling of muscle metabolites generated at rest that are then translated by the central nervous system into symptoms of severe fatigue.
