Drug shows success in stopping brain damage during heart surgery

Brain damage that occurs during certain heart surgeries may be reduced by stopping a natural chemical from overstimulating brain nerve cells to the point of cell suicide, a Johns Hopkins

University study suggests. The researchers performed bypass surgery on laboratory animals to learn what triggers brain cell death and how to combat it. Half of the animals in the study

received a drug called MK-801 to try to stop a neurotransmitter called glutamate from triggering the cell death process. Significantly fewer brain cells died in the animals receiving the

drug than in the animals that did not receive it. Scientists presented their results at the American College of Surgeons’ annual meeting in San Francisco.