Many drugs that are already approved to treat certain diseases can be useful to combat other health problems or their sequelae, and this could be the case with gabapentin, a drug that is currently prescribed to control seizures and reduce nerve pain and that it has been shown that it can also favor the recovery of movement after a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) because it helps the neurons of the side of the brain that has not been damaged take over the functions of the lost cells, according to a study in mice.
Scientists at The Ohio State University have conducted experiments mimicking ischemic stroke in people, which occurs when a clot blocks blood flow and neurons in the affected brain region die. They administered gabapentin daily to mice for six weeks after a stroke, restoring fine motor function in the animals’ upper extremities, and observed that this functional recovery continued after discontinuation of treatment.
The team of researchers had previously discovered that gabapentin blocks the activity of a protein – the neural receptor protein alpha2delta2 – which, when expressed at high levels after brain or spinal cord injury occurs, prevents them from growing. axons, a component of nerve cells that are responsible for transmitting messages.
“When this protein is high, it interferes with neurological recovery,” said senior author Andrea Tedeschi, an assistant professor of neuroscience at the Ohio State College of Medicine. “Imagine that this protein is the brake pedal and recovery is the accelerator. You can press the gas pedal, but you can’t accelerate while you’re also pressing the brake pedal,” Tedeschi said. “If you start to lift off the brake pedal and continuously press on the gas, you can really speed up the recovery. We think that’s the effect of gabapentin on neurons, and there’s a contribution from non-neuronal cells that take advantage of this process and make it even more effective.”
The treatment activated the voluntary movement of the limbs
The treatment of an ischemic stroke is specifically aimed at restoring blood flow to the brain as quickly as possible, but this study, which has been published in the journal Brain, suggests that gabapentin is not indicated for this acute stage, since Recovery results were similar whether treatment with this drug was started one hour, or one day after injury.
The researchers observed that after the stroke, motor neurons located on the uninjured or contralateral side of the brain of the mice began to generate axons that restored signals from the central nervous system to activate voluntary movement of the upper extremities that had been silenced. by neuronal death. This shows the ability of the central nervous system to repair damaged structures, connections, and signals.
Gabapentin treatment for six weeks after stroke restored fine motor functions in the upper limbs of mice
“The mammalian nervous system has some intrinsic ability to repair itself,” said Tedeschi, who is also a member of the Ohio State Chronic Brain Injury Program. “But we found that this increase in spontaneous plasticity was not enough to drive recovery. The functional deficits are not as severe in this experimental model of ischemic stroke, but they are persistent.”
Neurons tend to become ‘overexcited’ after injury, leading to excessive signaling and muscle contractions that can trigger uncontrolled movement and pain. The neural receptor protein alpha2delta2 contributes to the development of the central nervous system, but its overexpression after neuronal damage slows axon growth and increases hyperexcitability.
Gabapentin treatment is responsible for inhibiting the alpha2delta1/2 subunits and allows the central nervous system to recover adequately. The study findings highlight the great potential for repurposing gabapentin as a promising therapeutic option for stroke repair.
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