A preliminary report on the application of noscapine in the treatment of stroke

Background: Stroke is the third leading cause of death in most developed countries. Therefore, a need exists for its treatment. Considering the role that is played by bradykinin in pathogenesis of neuronal injury, it has been suggested that bradykinin antagonists may be useful in the treatment of neurological patients. As noscapine can act as an antagonist of bradykinin and can effectively reduce brain injury after hypoxic-ischemic insult in neonatal rats, the present work was carried out to investigate its effectiveness in a clinical setting. Methods: Noscapine was administrated orally to ten acute ischemic stroke patients, and the degree of brain injury was evaluated by computed tomography scan and clinical observation. The control group (n = 10) did not receive noscapine treatment. Results: Our study showed that noscapine effectively improved clinical prognosis and reduced the mortality rate down to 20% compared with 80% in the control group. Our patients did not show any specific side effects due to noscapine. Conclusion: It is concluded that oral noscapine can be an effective drug for reducing the mortality rate in stroke; however, further study with a larger number of patients is needed to determine its full potential in stroke.