Supercharging the brain’s self-healing cells. Supercharging the brain’s self-healing cells.

A stroke can change a life in an instant. Many patients are left facing challenges with mobility, speech, memory, and independence long after the initial emergency has passed. Dr. Jing Wang and her team are researching how the brain's own repair mechanisms could be enhanced after stroke, opening the door to new ways of helping survivors regain lost function.

The brain's natural repair response

When a stroke occurs, the affected region of the brain is deprived of oxygen and energy, causing massive cell death in the surrounding brain tissue. As the brain responds to this injury, a surge of neural stem cells appears at the damaged site. These cells have the ability to generate new brain cells, including neurons, but only for a short period of time. 

This brief window, typically just three to seven days, may represent an important opportunity to support the brain's natural recovery process.

Harnessing the brain's healing potential

Dr. Wang's team is studying injury-induced neural stem cells that originate from pericytes, cells that normally wrap around blood vessels in the brain. Following a stroke, some pericytes can transform into neural stem cells, creating the potential for new neurons to form in damaged areas of the brain.

The challenge is that this process happens at a relatively low rate, and it is not enough to fully repair the damage. Dr. Wang's research is exploring how to promote neuron production from these induced neural stem cells.

One promising discovery involves metformin, a medication commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes. In laboratory studies, the drug increased the rate at which injury-induced neural stem cells generated neurons. The team is now exploring additional approaches that could further strengthen the brain's self-healing response.

Creating hope for stroke survivors

Ultimately, Dr. Wang hopes to help stroke patients regain the function they lost due to brain damage. That could mean returning to work, walking without assistance, or maintaining their independence. Support from Heart & Stroke donors is helping make that progress possible.

"Support from donors is a constant reminder that our research is ultimately about the people living with long-term consequences of heart disease and stroke—the patient, their family, their community," says Dr. Wang. "Donor support motivates us. We want to advance scientific understanding, but we also want to move closer to therapy that can improve long-term outcomes and quality of life for survivors."