Featured: NRTIMES

Groundbreaking research involving zebrafish is giving hope to haemorrhagic stroke survivors, with the discovery that existing drugs could support their recovery.

NR Times meets the University of Manchester scientists behind the pioneering project - Professor Stuart Allan, Dr Siobhan Crilly, Dr Paul Kasher and Dr Adrian Parry-Jones.

Through a world-first use of zebrafish larvae to investigate brain injury mechanisms after haemorrhagic stroke, scientists are breaking new ground in understanding the condition and may be within just five years of being able to introduce new treatments for survivors.

While traditionally stroke research is done in rodent models prior to human trials, scientists at the University of Manchester are making significant advances from the study of two-day- old zebrafish who sustain bleeds on their brain and resultant paralysis.

The use of zebrafish has enabled the team to discover a unique platform for drug screening, to rapidly identify neuroprotective compounds following intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH).

And from the large-scale screening of 2,000 existing drugs which could be considered as potential treatments, the team have found 150 have the potential to help - with six enzyme inhibiting drugs already in common use for hypertension.

Two - ramipril and quinapril - were then further assessed to confirm a 55 per cent reduction in brain cell death.