Stroke of Genius
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While studying the effects of stimulating whiskers on rats, scientists at UC Irvine might have just had a breakthrough in stroke recovery for humans. According to their research, stimulating the whiskers on a rat can stop a stroke in its tracks. If a rat experiencing a stroke has whisker stimulation within an hour of a stroke, they have a 100% survival rate.
Additional research is needed to see if humans would have a similar reaction. And of course, humans don’t have whiskers, but scientists believe that stimulating fingertips could produce a similar result because it causes a large amount of blood flow to redirect itself through the brain.
Waiting two hours decreased the rat survival rate to 80%, and waiting three hours made the damage caused by a stroke irreversible and stimulating the whiskers only caused further damage to the subject at that point.
The hope is that this research could someday lead us to stroke prevention and improved recovery in humans.
