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Can a Nasal Spray Treat Traumatic Brain Injury?
If human tests are successful, treating a concussion may be as simple as using a nasal spray in the future.
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Neuroscientist Jake VanLandingham, assistant professor at the Florida State University Department of Biomedical Sciences and director of research for the Memory Disorder Clinic at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, is doing preclinical work with his team on a drug to reduce inflammation in the brain after a traumatic brain injury.
Med City News says Van Landingham isn’t a stranger to concussions. He suffered a brain injury during college which caused three blood clots in his brain. He was already studying neurology and physical therapy, but the injury added renewed purpose.
Last year, the team licensed their work from Florida State University and started a company to create Prevasol. The neurosteroid has been used in animal tests where it has reduced edema, inflammation, and oxidative stress after brain injury.
“It upregulates three different proteins — one that’s critical in removing blood from the brain, another that’s reducing inflammatory-mediated cell death in the brain, and a third is important in stabilizing the function of mitochondria inside the brain,” Van Landingham told Med City News.
The drug is a long ways from standard use. Human trials have yet to begin, but Van Landinham is hoping for a 2014 start.
