Clinical relevance in a translational rodent model of acute ischemic stroke: Incorporating the biological variability of spontaneous recanalization

Abstract

Acute ischemic stroke, in which a clot of blood manages to obstruct an artery supplying blood to a part of the brain and leads to brain damage, ranks as the third leading cause of death and is the leading cause of serious long-term disability in the United States. At present, the administration of the clot-dissolving drug, tissue-plasminogen activator, remains the only FDA-approved reperfusion therapy for acute ischemic stroke. Unfortunately, relatively few people (4-14%, depending on the study) access medical care in time or are eligible enough for treatment to benefit (8,10,24). There isaneed to develop additional therapies. The occlusion that causes a stroke is a dynamic one that is prone to spontaneous re-canalization and varying degrees of spontaneous reperfusion. The incorporation of this tendency into a translational stroke model will maximize clinical relevance.