Blood test to predict events in the brain during recovery from stroke

The days when people recover and communicate back with friends and family are not the same without the activity of dopamine the brain chemical that restores movement to most people after a stroke.

Dr. Otis Brawley is associate professor of neurology with the Sagol School of Neuroscience and director of the Study Center on the Brain (SCAN) at Morgan State University. The SCAN is the only mainland Georgia facility for adult brain and cognitive sciences with capacity to study brain functions for as long as 33 years.

Brawley said the electrolytes which are contained within the blood are critical for the electrical brains ability to function. The greater the level of brain activity the greater the surplus to protect the brain resulting from best treatment said Brawley. The SCAN studies the acute effects of stroke on the brain giving patients a snapshot of how severe a stroke a person is having some time after their injury.

The SCAN team conducted its first study using a new high-resolution scan technology to study another brain chemistry the amino acids (amino acids) on the inside surface of the lower right side of the brain as the person recovers after a stroke. Amyloid-beta an abnormal protein made by the brain has been shown to cause cognitive decline and strokes. It can be triggered by any insult such as bleeding stress seizures and trauma.

The team started by exposing rats to the lowest level of brain activity that rat neurons can produce in response to an electric shock. The team analyzed the next generation F-actin-sequencing technology using a passing filtered MRI (frequency difference FDI 100kHz) in which they can examine the activity of the brains subtle network which functions the same as in a living brain. The FDI technique was adapted from animal studies in which human subjects have epilepsy chip implanted into their brains affording researchers a limited opportunity to study epilepsy while also detecting brain electrical signals.