Graduate student Poornima Venkat is coauthor on two papers about stroke

A stroke happens when blood flow to part of the brain is obstructed. Stroke is the second leading cause of death in the world, just behind heart disease. Distinguished Professor Mike Chopp, of the Department of Physics, is part of a team at Henry Ford Hospital developing better treatments for stroke. One technique that shows promise for treating patients after a stroke is using stem cells, which have the ability to differentiate into many different cell types. More recently, the team has focused on niacin (vitamin B₃), often taken in its extended release form called Niaspan. Two recent papers have focused on the treatment of stroke with Niaspan and stem cells simultaneously. Both papers include Chopp and Biomedical Sciences: Medical Physics graduate student Poornima Venkat on the list of coauthors. Below are the abstracts of the two papers.

Niaspan Attenuates the Adverse Effects of Bone Marrow Stromal Cell Treatment of Stroke in Type One Diabetic Rats
(PLoS ONE, Volume: 8, Article Number: e81199, 2013)

Aims: Our previous studies have found that bone-marrow-stromal cells (BMSC) therapy improves functional recovery after stroke in non-diabetic rats while increases brain hemorrhage and induces arteriosclerosis-like changes in type-one-diabetic (T1DM) rats. Niaspan treatment of stroke increases vascular stabilization, decreases brain hemorrhage and blood-brain-barrier (BBB) leakage in T1DM rats. We therefore tested the hypothesis that combination therapy of BMSC with Niaspan attenuates the side effects of BMSC monotherapy in T1DM rats.
Methods: T1DM-rats induced by streptozotocin were subjected to 2 hours of middle-cerebral-artery occlusion (MCAo) and treated with: 1) PBS; 2) BMSC (5x10(6)); 3) Niaspan (40 mg/kg) daily for 14 days; 4) BMSC (5x10(6)) + Niaspan (40 mg/kg, daily for 14 days) combination starting at 24 hours after MCAo. All rats were monitored for 14 days.
Results: Combination BMSC+Niaspan treatment of T1DM-MCAo rats did not increase brain hemorrhage, and significantly decreased BBB leakage and vascular arteriosclerosis-like changes as well as decreased Angiogenin, matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) and ED1 expression in ischemic brain and internal-carotid-artery compared to non-treatment control and BMSC monotherapy animals.
Conclusions: Combination therapy using BMSC with Niaspan decreases BBB leakage and cerebral arteriosclerosis-like changes. These beneficial effects may be attributed to the decreased expression of Angiogenin, MMP9 and ED1.

Combination BMSC and Niaspan Treatment of Stroke Enhances White Matter Remodeling and Synaptic Protein Expression in Diabetic Rats
(International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Volume: 14, Pages: 22221-22232, 2013)

Objective: White matter remodeling plays an important role in neurological recovery after stroke. Bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) and Niaspan, an agent which increases high density lipoprotein (HDL), each induces neurorestorative effects and promotes white matter remodeling after stroke in non-diabetic rats. In this study, we test whether combination of BMSCs with Niaspan induces an enhanced white matter remodeling in the ischemic brain of diabetic rats.
Research Design and Methods: Type-1 diabetes (T1DM) rats were subjected to transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo) and treated with or without BMSCs; Niaspan; and the combination of BMSCs + Niaspan daily for 14 days after MCAo. Immunostaining for white matter remodeling and synaptic protein expression including NG2; CNPase; BS (Bielschowsky silver); LFB (luxol fast blue); Synaptophysin and SMI-31 immunostaining were performed.
Results: BMSC monotherapy did not regulate NG2 and CNPase expression compared to T1DM control rats. Both, combination of BMSCs + Niaspan treatment, and Niaspan monotherapy significantly increase NG2 and CNPase expression compared to T1DM control. While combination BMSC+Niaspan, BMSC monotherapy and Niaspan monotherapy groups all increase BS, LFB, synaptophysin, and SMI-31 expression in the ischemic brain compared to T1DM-MCAo control. In addition, the combination treatment significantly enhances LFB, SMI-31, and Synaptophysin expression compared to BMSC monotherapy.
Conclusions: Combination treatment of stroke with BMSCs and Niaspan in T1DM rats increases white matter remodeling and additively increases BMSC monotherapy induced myelination and synaptic plasticity after stroke in T1DM rats.