http://www.etsmjournal.com/content/1/1/7/comments The latest comments on the article 'Animal models of focal brain ischemia ' 2010-07-23T00:00:00Z This is an RSS newsfeed from BioMed Central It is intended to be used with an RSS reader. For more information about RSS newsfeeds from BioMed Central, visit http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/about/rss/ http://www.etsmjournal.com/content/1/1/7/comments#382655 <p>Humans <a href='http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v228/n5274/abs/228868a0.html'>differ</a> from traditional animal models for acute ischemic injury (as in stroke ) in that they have high blood levels of the conditionally pro- or anti-oxidant and <a href='http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/324/1/1.full'>antiexcitotoxic</a> agent uric acid. Urate has even been proposed as a treatment for stroke. High human levels of blood urate may <a href='http://stroke.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/39/8/e126'>partially-explain</a> the repeated failure of human stroke trials with "urate-like" antioxidant or antiexcitotoxic drugs which had worked well in animal models. <br/> <br/>Birds also use uric acid as an important antioxidant, e.g, in <a href='http://ps.fass.org/cgi/content/full/85/10/1791'>turkeys</a>, which sometimes develop gout. As with humans, the relative longevity of bird species such as parrots may be related to high urate levels. Perhaps a way around the uric acid problem is to also screen potential neuroprotectants in some avian model such as pigeons, turkeys, or chickens. <br/> <br/> <br/></p> Peter Proctor 2010-07-23T00:00:00Z http://www.etsmjournal.com/content/1/1/7 Sicard et al. Experimental & Translational Stroke Medicine 1 7 2009-11-13