Scientists of the Tomsk National Research Polytechnic University and of the Harvard Medical School have discovered a new compound that can protect the human brain from the effects of the ischemic disease, the University’s press service said on September 11, 2016.

Ischemia’s main hazard is the oxygen deficiency of individual organs and tissues. The more time it takes to restore the blood flow to the brain, the more severe are the consequences of ischemia. One of the consequences is a stroke.

“Researchers have discovered that mice that have received a therapeutic dose of the substance [we created] develop milder neurological disorders and have smaller necrosis-stricken areas in the brain 48 hours following ischemia, compared to untreated mice,” Dmitry Atochin, chief of the University’s laboratory for studying neuro-protection mechanisms, said.

The new substance could be used to treat the aftermath of ischemia and stroke, and to lower the risk of developing them in patients suffering from vascular diseases.

Further research will be conducted at the Tomsk Polytechnic University.

“We will check, in cooperation with physicists, how the substance reaches the brain through the hematoencephalic barrier, and we will team up with chemists to modify and synthesize a more effective compound with milder side effects,” Mr. Atochin said.

The Tomsk scientists hope that colleagues from other Russian regions, as well as the United States, China, and other countries will join the research project.