Stroke studies in large animals: prospects of mitochondrial transplantation and enhancing efficiency using hydrogels and nanoparticle-assisted delivery

Abstract

One of the most frequent reasons for mortality and disability today is acute ischemic stroke, which occurs by anabrupt disruption of cerebral circulation. The intricate damage mechanism involves several factors, such as in-flammatory response, disturbance of ion balance, loss of energy production, excessive reactive oxygen speciesand glutamate release, and finally, neuronal death. Stroke research is now carried out using several experimentalmodels and potential therapeutics. Furthermore, studies are being conducted to address the shortcomings ofclinical care. A great deal of research is being done on novel pharmacological drugs, mitochondria targetingcompounds, and different approaches including brain cooling and new technologies. Still, there are manyunanswered questions about disease modeling and treatment strategies. Before these new approaches may beused in therapeutic settings, they must first be tested on large animals, as most of them have been done onrodents. However, there are several limitations to large animal stroke models used for research. In this review,the damage mechanisms in acute ischemic stroke and experimental acute ischemic stroke models are addressed.The current treatment approaches and promising experimental methods such as mitochondrial transplantation,hydrogel-based interventions, and strategies like mitochondria encapsulation and chemical modification, are alsoexamined in this work.