Levels of apoptosis following cerebral ischaemia

Stroke is the 3rd leading cause of death in the UK and the major cause of long-term disability. There is an urgent need to find new intervention strategies, as there is currently only one approved therapeutic. Stroke results in the activation of many biochemical pathways, leading to brain cell death. This project aims to assess how effective targeting two of these pathways are at improving outcome. It will investigate the effects of using a modified cell-death (apoptosis)-promoting gene triggered by stroke and also a drug to lower levels of the oxidative stress associated with stroke. The results could have important implications for future interventions in the clinic.