HUNTER researchers believe human growth hormone could play a critical role in improving the quality of life of stroke survivors.
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Up to 80 per cent of survivors suffer from memory loss and learning difficulties, but a collaboration between University of Newcastle, Hunter Medical Research Institute and Sweden’s University of Gothenburg has found administering growth hormone after stroke “significantly” improved cognitive performance. The first-of-its-kind treatment could be a game-changer in stroke recovery and rehabilitation, the study’s co-author and post-doctoral research fellow, Dr Lin Kooi Ong, told the Newcastle Herald.
“Our findings are remarkable, and very exciting, because in pre-clinical modelling we found that the growth hormone considerably enhanced memory and learning performance,” he said. “Our results show a significant improvement in learning and memory tasks after the therapy, as well as a reduction in neural tissue loss.”
The growth hormone treatment also promoted “brain plasticity” by aiding new blood vessel growth and the repair of “neuronal networks” after stroke.
“We took a microscopic look at the brain cells and found a huge spike neurotrophic factors, which act as brain fertiliser to help brain cells grow and improve function,” Dr Ong said.
While growth hormone was already used in medical treatment, this was the first time it had been applied for its possible link between stroke and recovery.
“It is already approved for human usage as a therapy for patients suffering growth hormone deficiency, and the safety and efficacy profile of it is well documented,” Dr Ong said. “We have the capacity to re-purpose this drug to be used in the context of stroke recovery, and it is already looking very promising.”
Dr Ong said the next step was clinical trials.
Their research had evaluated the effects of administering growth hormone at 48 hours post-stroke for 28 days, but he was optimistic it would also benefit those who had suffered a stroke years earlier.
“The brain continues to remodel and re-network throughout our lives, so this treatment will actually give hopes to many stroke survivors – in Australia there is almost half a million,” he said.
Co-author and HMRI director Professor Michael Nilsson said there had been significant progress in reducing deaths from stroke, but the effects could be long-lasting.
“Our community is faced with the new challenge of treating and rehabilitating survivors, hence the importance of this work,” he said. “This encouraging discovery will be a welcome development for all those touched by the devastation stroke can leave behind.”
