Abstract
The significance of mild hypothermia as a therapeutic measure for ischemic brain damage is presented on the basis of different experimental results. An extracellular glutamate surge, a sustained activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, and an enhancement of DNA binding activity to transcription factor AP-1, all being key items directly linked to excitotoxic neuronal damage, are deeply affected by slightly lowering temperature (mild hypothermia [MH]). The cellular mechanism of MH seems rather nonspecific but tends to collectively involve these key items rendering neurons resistant to ischemic damage. Clinical application of MH should be a great challenge to relieve deadly effects on central neurons.
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Kataoka, K., Mitani, A., Yanase, H. et al. Ischemic neuronal damage. Molecular and Chemical Neuropathology 28, 191–195 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02815222
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02815222