EPO to repair traumatic brain injury?RSS Feed

The drug erythropoietin (EPO), sometimes used illegally by athletes, could be used to help the brain heal following traumatic brain injury.

Scientists are now looking at whether EPO is able to aid the brain's regeneration after a brain injury, reports the Australian Associated Press.

It has been shown that the brain generates a small number of new neurones in adult life, and it is thought the drug could increase this effect.

Professor Cristina Morganti-Kossmann from the National Trauma Research Institute (NTRI) at Melbourne's The Alfred Hospital told the news agency that it was previously believed there was no way to replace lost neurones in the brain.

"More neural cells continue to die and this can have a huge impact not only on the physical wellbeing of the patient but on (longer term) psychological aspects, such as mood, depression, substance abuse, memory, lack of concentration," she explained.

Meanwhile, scientists from the University of California, San Francisco have developed a new model which could help those with the acquired brain injury seen in neurodegenerative diseases.

Serious Law, award winning brain injury law firm

Posted by Matthew Heap
 

Coffee 'lowers stroke risk'

11 March 2011

Women who regularly drink coffee could be at a lower risk of suffering the brain injury seen in stroke, scientists have said.Those who drank little or no coffee were found to have a 22 to 25 per cent higher...

Read More...

New model to help those with neurodegenerative brain injury?

11 March 2011

Scientists have developed a new model which could help those with the acquired brain injury seen in neurodegenerative diseases.Researchers of the University of California, San Francisco, used worms and...

Read More...

Motorbike helmets 'reduce spinal injury as well as brain'

10 March 2011

Motorcycle helmets reduce the risk of spinal injury as well as brain injury, one expert has said.Professor Ade Malomo, a consultant neurologist at University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria, told the...

Read More...