Harmful and Healing Responses to Brain Injury Diverge by Cellular Mediators and Time
January 20, 2021
Harmful and healing immune responses to cerebrovascular injury depend on the timing of the response and cells mediating the response, a new study reports.
Injury to blood vessels in the brain, or cerebrovascular injury, commonly caused by a stroke that blocks a blood vessel (ischemic stroke), can result in severe swelling and inflammation.
In patients with short-term blockade of a blood vessel in the brain removing a blood clot from the lumen of a prominent blood vessel to restore blood flow, is often associated with poor clinical outcomes.
Researchers from the National Institutes of Health have discovered Jekyll and Hyde immune cells in the brain that ultimately help with brain repair but early after injury can lead to fatal swelling, suggesting that timing may be critical when administering treatment. These dual-purpose cells, which are called myelomonocytic cells and which are carried to the brain by the blood, are just one type of brain immune cell that NIH researchers tracked, watching in real-time as the brain repaired itself after injury.