The antibiotic minocycline may revolutionize the treatment of strokes. A new study, published online Oct. 6 in the open access journal BMC Neuroscience, describes the safety and therapeutic effectiveness of the drug in animal models.

Cesar V. Borlongan, PhD, a neuroscientist at the University of South Florida Center for Aging and Brain Repair, worked with a team of researchers from Medical College of Georgia to test the treatment in laboratory experiments.

“To date, the thrombolytic agent tPA is the only effective drug for acute ischemic stroke; however, only about 2 percent of ischemic stroke patients benefit from this treatment due to its limited therapeutic window,” Borlongan said. “There is a desperate need to develop additional neuroprotective strategies. This research is an important step in rectifying the treatment issues, presenting a new, more effective treatment for stroke patients.”

USF neuroscientist Cesar Borlongan, PhD, was the study's principal investigator.

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States, and currently accounts for almost 10 percent of deaths worldwide, claiming more lives than HIV/AIDS. During a stroke, a clot prevents blood flow to parts of the brain, which can have wide ranging short-term and long-term implications.

This study recorded the effect of intravenous minocycline in both isolated nerve cells and animal models after a stroke had been experimentally induced. At low doses the antibiotic was found to have a neuroprotective effect by rapidly reducing neuronal cell death (apoptosis) and alleviating behavioral deficits caused by stroke. The researchers also found that this neuroprotection was dose-dependent, underscoring the importance of the dose delivered for a safe outcome. While low-dose minocycline inhibited neuronal cell death at the early, or acute, phase of a stroke, a higher dose aggravated the brain injury from stroke.

An ongoing phase 1 clinical study funded by the National Institutes of Health is exploring the use of intravenous minocycline to treat acute ischemic stroke.

“The safety and therapeutic efficacy of low dose minocycline and its robust neuroprotective effects during acute ischemic stroke make it an appealing drug candidate for stroke therapy,” Dr. Borlongan said.