X-Message-Number: 26668
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 05:20:57 -0700 (PDT)
From: Doug Skrecky <>
Subject: terminal cryonics patients protocol?

[With stroke lesions in rodents being reduced by 75%, spirulina earns
top honors. For cryonics patients nearing the end, an argument could be
made in favor of a spirulina supplement. Perhaps a terminal
cryonics patient protocol could be worked up incorporating various
suggestions likely to be helpful?]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/07/050701065550.htm

Antioxidant-rich Diets Reduce Brain Damage From Stroke In Rats

Tampa, FL (April 12, 2005) -- Your mother was right. Eat your fruits and
veggies -- they're good for you!

And if that's not reason enough, a new study suggests antioxidant-rich
fruits and vegetables may limit brain damage from stroke and other
neurological disorders. The study, conducted by researchers at the
University of South Florida (USF)College of Medicine, James A. Haley
Veterans' Hospital and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, is posted
online and will be published in the May issue of the journal
Experimental Neurology.

USF/VA neuroscientist Paula Bickford, PhD, and colleagues found that
rats fed diets preventatively enriched with blueberries, spinach or an
algae known as spirulina experienced less brain cell loss and improved
recovery of movement following a stroke.

The study builds upon previous USF/VA research showing that diets
enriched with blueberries, spinach or spirulina reversed normal
age-related declines in memory and learning in old rats.

"I was amazed at the extent of neuroprotection these antioxidant-rich
diets provided," said Dr. Bickford, a researcher at the USF Center for
Aging and Brain Repair and James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital. "The size
of the stroke was 50 to 75 percent less in rats treated with diets
supplemented with blueberries, spinach or spirulina before the stroke."

Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory substances in these fruits and
vegetables may somehow reduce the nerve cell injury and death triggered
by a stroke, the researchers suggest. "The clinical implication is that
increasing fruit and vegetable consumption may make a difference in the
severity of a stroke," Dr. Bickford said. "It could be a readily
available, inexpensive and relatively safe way to benefit stroke
patients."

The researchers studied four groups of rats, all fed equal amounts of
food for one month. One group was fed rat chow supplemented with
blueberries, a second group chow with spinach, and the third chow with
spirulina. The control (untreated) group ate chow only.

After four weeks, an ischemic stroke with reperfusion was induced in the
rats. An ischemic stroke occurs when a blood clot cuts off the oxygen
supply to the brain like the kink in a hose cuts off water flow. Then,
later, the clot is released and blood flow returns, which is known as
reperfusion.

The size of the stroke in the rats fed blueberry or spinach supplements
was half that seen in the brains of untreated rats. Rats fed
spirulina-enriched diets had stroke lesions 75 percent smaller than
their untreated counterparts. In addition, rats pretreated with the
blueberry, spinach or spirulina diets showed greater increases in
poststroke movement than the control group.

All the supplemented diets were rich in antioxidants, which scientists
say may counteract the burst of free radicals involved in the cascade of
brain cell death triggered by an ischemic stroke. An excess of free
radicals can damage cellular lipids, proteins and DNA.

The supplemented diets also contained anti-inflammatory substances that
may help reduce inflammation-induced injury following a stroke, Dr.
Bickford said. When a stroke occurs, immune cells in the brain mount an
inflammatory response -- rushing to the site of injury to clear away the
dead and dying cells. As a result, nearby healthy nerve cells may suffer
collateral damage much the same way firefighters breaking into an
apartment to put out a fire in one room may inadvertently cause damage
to other rooms.

Teasing out just which beneficial chemicals contained in the blueberries
and leafy greens might be reproduced therapeutically in pill form is
difficult, Dr. Bickford said. "Whole foods contain multiple nutrients,
so there are many different ways these diets could be protecting the
brain. From a scientific perspective, it's a package deal."

Dr. Bickford's team is investigating whether rats treated with
antioxidant-rich diets following strokes will experience improved
recovery. The researchers also plan to study whether combinations of the
diets might provide even greater protection against stroke damage than
one diet alone.

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