Key Points Closed head trauma sequentially releases tPA followed by uPA from injured brain. Increased uPA is responsible for delayed intracerebral hemorrhage, which is prevented by a tPA variant that inhibits uPA activity.

Tissue type plasminogen activator (tPA) induces neuronal apoptosis, disrupt the blood-brain-barrier (BBB), and promotes dilation of the cerebral vasculature. The timing, sequence and contributions of these and other deleterious effects of tPA and their contribution to post-ischemic brain damage after stroke, have not been fully elucidated. To dissociate the effects of tPA on BBB permeability, cerebral vasodilation and protease-dependent pathways, we developed several tPA mutants and PAI-1 derived peptides constructed by computerized homology modeling of tPA. Our data show that intravenous administration of human tPA to rats increases BBB permeability through a non-catalytic process, which is associated with reversible neurotoxicity, brain damage, edema, mortality and contributes significantly to its brief therapeutic window. Furthermore, our data show that inhibiting the effect of tPA on BBB function without affecting its catalytic activity, improves outcome and significantly extends its therapeutic window in mechanical as well as thromboembolic models of stroke.

Glucagon exerts a marked neuroprotective effect post-TBI by decreasing CNS glutamate. Glucagon was beneficial despite increasing blood glucose. Favorable effects also occurred when glucagon was given prior to TBI, suggesting its involvement in the preconditioning process. Thus, glucagon may be of value in providing neuroprotection when administered after TBI or prior to certain neurosurgical or cardiac interventions in which the incidence of perioperative ischemia is high.

Reactive airway disease is mediated by smooth muscle contraction initiated through several agonist-dependent pathways. Activation of type 1 N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDA-R1s) by plasminogen activators (PAs) has been linked to control of vascular tone, but their effect on airway smooth muscle contractility has not previously been studied to our knowledge. We observed that NMDA-R1s are expressed by human airway smooth muscle cells and constitutively inhibit the contraction of isolated rat tracheal rings in response to acetylcholine (Ach). Both tissue-type PA (tPA) and urokinase-type PA (uPA) bind to NMDA-R1 and reverse this effect, thereby enhancing Ach-induced tracheal contractility. Tracheal contractility initiated by Ach is reduced in rings isolated from tPA(-/-) and uPA(-/-) mice compared with their wild-type counterparts. The procontractile effect of uPA or tPA was mimicked and augmented by the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, l-NAME. uPA and tPA further enhanced the contractility of rings denuded of epithelium, an effect that was inhibited by the NMDA-R antagonist, MK-801. Binding of PAs to NMDA-R1 and the subsequent activation of the receptor were inhibited by PA inhibitor type 1, by a PA inhibitor type 1-derived hexapeptide that recognizes the tPA and uPA docking domains, as well as by specific mutations within the docking site of tPA. These studies identify involvement of PAs and NMDA-R1 in airway contractility, and define new loci that could lead to the development of novel interventions for reactive airway disease.

Abu Fanne R, Nassar T, Heyman SN, Hijazi N, Higazi AA. Insulin and glucagon share the same mechanism of neuroprotection in diabetic rats: role of glutamate. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 301: R668 -R673, 2011. First published June 15, 2011 doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00058.2011In patients with acute ischemic stroke, diabetes and hyperglycemia are associated with increased infarct size, more profound neurologic deficits and higher mortality. Notwithstanding extensive clinical and experimental data, treatment of stroke-associated hyperglycemia with insulin is controversial. In addition to hyperglycemia, diabetes and even early prediabetic insulin resistance are associated with increased levels of amino acids, including the neurotoxic glutamate, in the circulation. The pleiotropic metabolic effects of insulin include a reduction in the concentration of amino acids in the circulation. In this article, we show that in diabetic rats exposed to transient middle cerebral artery occlusion, a decrease of plasma glutamate by insulin or glucagon reduces CSF glutamate, improves brain histology, and preserves neurologic function. The neuroprotective effect of insulin and glucagon was similar, notwithstanding their opposite effects on blood glucose. The therapeutic window of both hormones overlapped with the short duration (ϳ30 min) of elevated brain glutamate following brain trauma in rodents. Similar neuroprotective effects were found after administration of the glutamate scavenger oxaloacetate, which does not affect glucose metabolism. These data indicate that insulin and glucagon exert a neuroprotective effect within a very brief therapeutic window that correlates with their capacity to reduce glutamate, rather than by modifying glucose levels. stroke; brain damage; glutamate IN ϳ30 -40% OF PATIENTS WITH acute ischemic stroke, diabetes is found at presentation (5, 24), ϳ70% have elevated blood glucose levels (27), and about 25% develop persistent hyperglycemia (21). Hyperglycemia is associated with increased infarct size (5,9,12,21,36,44), as well as with a ϳ3-fold higher risk of death (15), and survivors have more profound neurologic deficits and disability (26). Hyperglycemia is also associated with aggravated postischemic brain damage in animal models. In cats, acute hyperglycemia is associated with a ϳ3-fold increase in the volume of hemispheric infarcts induced by cerebrovascular occlusion (19), and in dogs, even moderate hyperglycemia has been shown to increase brain damage and mortality induced by ischemia (33). Consistent with these findings, treatment of hyperglycemia with insulin in these models, improves the outcome (10, 29, 45). Notwithstanding extensive clinical and experimental data indicating that hyperglycemia exacerbates poststroke brain damage and evidence from animal models that reversal of hyperglycemia with insulin attenuates injury (10, 29, 45), in clinical practice, this approach is controversial (8,23,25,31,35,37). This disconcerting lack of clinical success is not entirely surprising, since insu...