Study IDs new cause of brain bleeding immediately after stroke

By discovering a new mechanism that allows blood to enter the brain immediately after a stroke, researchers at UC Irvine and the Salk Institute have opened the door to new therapies that may limit or prevent stroke-induced brain damage.

A complex and devastating neurological condition, stroke is the fourth-leading cause of death and primary reason for disability in the U.S. The blood-brain barrier is severely damaged in a stroke and lets blood-borne material into the brain, causing the permanent deficits in movement and cognition seen in stroke patients.

Dritan Agalliu, assistant professor of developmental & cell biology at UC Irvine, and Axel Nimmerjahn of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies developed a novel transgenic mouse strain in which they use a fluorescent tag to see the tight, barrier-forming junctions between the cells that make up blood vessels in the central nervous system. This allows them to perceive dynamic changes in the barrier during and after strokes in living animals.

While observing that barrier function is rapidly impaired after a stroke (within six hours), they unexpectedly found that this early barrier failure is not due to the breakdown of tight junctions between blood vessel cells, as had previously been suspected. In fact, junction deterioration did not occur until two days after the event.

Instead, the scientists reported dramatic increases in carrier proteins called serum albumin flowing directly into brain tissue. These proteins travel through the cells composing blood vessels